Crimson Guardian
by DarkHonour
Summary: A hundred years has passed since the 5th Holy Grail War. Many supernatural encounters have been seen. The Heroic Spirit Emiya is summoned by a certain someone. Is that just it or there is more to this mystery?
1. The Beginning

_A light._

_A sparkling light out of the darkness enveloping myself._

_I can't feel anything nor hear anything._

_I can only see the light before me._

_Will this light guide me where I go?_

_Or is it just an illusion out of this dark chaos?_

_The light increases in intensity as it starts to fill out the area around me._

_I can only see a silhouette. _

_A figure of an entity._

_An entity with a red cape._

* * *

**CHAPTER ZERO: THE BEGINNING**

'We'll end here for today,' the booming voice of the lecturer sounded through the auditorium. Within seconds, the scurrying sounds of the students within followed as well.

'Shirasaki.'

'Yes! Professor!'

A brown-haired girl pushed the last of her writing materials back inside her small haversack. With a quick grab, she came down from the flight of stairs to approach the teaching platform in the auditorium.

'I see you were sleeping again.'

'I'm very sorry!' She exclaimed loudly, bowing before her professor to extend her apologies.

'If you're not very interested in my lesson, you can leave immediately.'

The professor stomped off, leaving her still in her deep bow figure. As he bumped into her, her glasses slipped off her ears falling onto the wooden planked floor.

'Really...' she muttered to herself, bending down to pick up the pair of glasses. Rummaging through her haversack, she picked out a small black leather box, opening it to reveal a piece of cloth.

'He should have at least watched his way!' She cursed to herself as she began to polish the lenses of her glasses with the emerald cloth.

In her jeans, she felt a vibration loud enough to be heard in the silent auditorium. She was the last one for every student had already left the room. Pushing her hand into the pocket, she withdrew her hand back to take out her handphone.

'Hello?'

With a single flick, she opened the handphone cover. Pushing her right side bangs to one side, she brought the receiver portion of it to her ear.

_My name is Shirasaki Miyuki. Some people call me 'Shirasagi' for some unknown reasons._

_I'm a university student. To be exact, a student of the famous Tokyo Technological University. The campus occupies a fifth of the city. _

_Recently lectures have turned out to be very boring for me. For unknown reasons, I have been sleeping through classes._

_And just like how that idiot Professor treated me, that is yet one of the many cases I have been encountering._

'You're late!'

A girl clad in a purple windbreaker folded her arms, leaning by the pillar of the corridor just outside the auditorium. She opened her dark blue eyes to meet the brown eyes of her friend.

'I've got stood up again, sorry,' Shirasaki answered. A cold breeze blew through the empty corridor. It was no surprise. The season had already turned to late fall.

The other girl wrapped her arm around the brown-haired bespectacled person.

'Yui-chan?'

'It's on you today,' she responded back with a rather seemingly fake smile.

'What?!'

'You'd better pay for standing me up!' Yui looked back at her, trying to give her the evil eye. 'Right, Shirasagi?'

'Hey! Don't call me that!' Shirasaki retorted back at her.

'Well well,' Yui gave a chuckle. 'Let's see how.'

The campus of the university was big. But it was not long before the two girls made their way through to the main gate.

'Say,' Yui blurted out suddenly. She gave a close-up at Shirasaki's face.

'Now what?'

Shirasaki's eyebrow twitched, curious to know Yui's next unpredictable move.

'How long has it been since you've changed glasses?'

In an instant, Yui took off Shirasaki's glasses.

'Hey! Give it back!' She shouted back at Yui, trying to get back her glasses. But Yui was agile enough to avoid her friend's grabs.

'Circular glasses, eh?' Yui stared at the pair of spectacles in her hands.

'Give it back, Yui-chan~!'

'There.'

In yet another moment, the ponytailed-girl placed the glasses back on her friend. She giggled uncontrollably.

Shirasaki folded her arms.

'It's amusing to see you act like that,' the other girl opened one eye at her. 'Shirasagi.'

'That doesn't matter now,' Shirasaki responded coldly. 'I'm going home.'

'I was just joking!' Yui ran after her as they moved along the road leading down to the nearby town area.

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'Hey!' Yui was throwing a tantrum as she stood outside the apartment corridor. 'That ramen shop only serves that dish for an hour!'

'That's not my problem,' Shirasaki walked into the hallway of her apartment unit. It was dark inside since she had always closed the curtains covering the main window. As she stepped in, she could feel her socks stepping on pieces of documents.

'Eh?'

The bespectacled girl bent down, picking up the pieces of paper she could feel. They were indeed crumpled up.

It was probably junk mail again. There were some crazy estate agents trying to offer ludicrous prices to force the residents around here to give up their land.

As her hands felt through the documents, she could feel a single letter. There was something hard inside the letter. But it was too dark to see the contents of it.

'Oh what the heck,' she thought to herself as she tore open the cover. Unknowingly, the hard piece within fell out of its protection, falling to the floor with a small impact on the tatami carpet.

'It's gone?' She could not feel the piece within the envelope. Shirasaki bent down, trying to feel her way for the small artifact within.

'For goodness' sake, Shirasagi!' She heard the loud voice booming from the entrance. 'There's something called electricity!'

As Yui stepped in, she flipped up the switch but there was no response. She turned it up and down a few more times but there was no reaction from the light above.

Shirasaki emerged from the darkness, dressed in a normal shirt and jeans covered with a brown longcoat.

'The landlord doesn't advocate any turning on of lights until half past six.'

Yui could only stare blankly at Shirasaki's calm reaction.

'Do you really have a life?'

'That's enough,' Shirasaki pushed Yui out of the entrance of the apartment, locking the door behind her. 'Don't forget about the limited ramen.'

'Oh darn!' Yui exclaimed immediately as she sprinted down the apartment corridor.

'Seriously...'

Shirasaki muttered to herself, closing her eyes to catch her breath for the moment.

As she walked away from her apartment, little did she know of a certain light was emanating from the dropped artifact in her room, beginning to draw a unique circle around itself.

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'Yuppie!' Yui clasped her hands together before the hot bowl of ramen. 'Itadakimasu!'

Shirasaki sighed as soon as Yui had said the unique word for appreciating food.

Her friend was one weird person.

The ramen store was noisy. The workers inside were working hard at producing the ramen and shouting out orders from the customers. Both girls were the odd ones out since the shop was filled with no one but businessmen clad in black suits.

Of all places, Yui chose to go to one which was a working district, smack right in Marunouchi district.

Since the shop was also located in a business district, there was a holographic television by the wall displaying the latest news.

'Residents are advised to be home by eleven in Setagaya ward,' the newscaster read aloud the news before a piece of paper on the desk. "There have been strange cases of mysterious disappearances of people. The police are currently investigating into this.'

'That's bad, isn't it?'

Shirasaki was strangely too engrossed in looking at the news when Yui interrupted.

'Say,' Yui put down her chopsticks on the ramen bowl. 'Have you heard of the Hell Gate?'

'The Hell Gate?'

'Yeah,' Yui's face turned serious. 'I heard it is responsible for the myseterious disappearances.'

Shirasaki adjusted her glasses, looking in the direction of her friend.

'Where did you get that from?'

'Uncle Kamata from the convenience store.'

Shirasaki hung her head down in defeat. Of all people, Yui chose to listen to the owner of the neighbourhood convenience store or rather actually the gossip store. The Kamata family was quite the noisy family specialising in much rumours.

'That person talks nonsense!' Shirasaki exclaimed.

'Well...' Yui pondered for a while.

'Eh..?'

'He gave me a discount anyway,' her friend gave back the dumbest reply ever.

'Really...' Shirasaki muttered to herself as she proceeded to rip out one piece of tissue from the nearby box.

'Eh?'

'Now what is it?' Shirasaki looked at the peculiar look on Yui's face.

'Shirasagi,' Yui looked at her. 'Why do you have a tattoo on your arm?'

As Shirasaki looked closer at her arm, indeed there was a strange tattoo. It was reddish, sort of like a scratch mark but it was not one.

Yui wrapped her arms around the spectacled girl again.

'Are you one of those tattoo enthusiasts, eh?' There was a sinister look on her face again.

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Shirasaki walked home on the quiet road to her apartment. As cheap as it was, her own residence was rather far from the nearest train station. And more so, the apartment was in Setagaya, which was the subject of much strange happenings of recent.

Bright lamp posts illuminated the quiet area but it was not enough for one to feel safe walking back. The mention of the urban legend related by Yui was sending shivers down her back.

The neighbourhood was far too quiet and it was now a new moon night, which added to the darkness of the night.

'Of all places, why Setagaya...?'

Shirasaki muttered to herself, buttoning up the longcoat as a cold wind blew by her body. She slowly walked down the asphalt road, praying for nothing to happen until she reached home.

She could hear footsteps.

They were footsteps of something coming her way. There was no reason to panic as it was not approaching her quickly.

Nevertheless, it still gave her the creeps.

'Now what...'

She whispered to herself, praying nobody or nothing could hear her.

The footsteps were getting louder as she was getting nearer to them.

They were going to meet at the next lamp post.

Shirasaki slowed down her steps. The other person was still neverthlessly continuing the same pace.

At the lamp post, the figure revealed itself.

In Shirasaki's mind filled with hallucination, she would have imagined another schoolgirl covered in blood and gore.

But it was just a normal schoolgirl carrying her schoolbag by her left shoulder. The brown long hair of the girl flowed with the wind but she was walking as if Shirasaki was not there.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Shirasaki continued her route back home.

It was not long before she laboured herself up to the third floor of the five storeyed apartment block. As she was about to approach her unit, the door next to hers swung open.

A middle-aged lady stood before her.

'Good evening, Mrs Hatena,' Shirasaki bowed before her neighbour.

'Hmph,' the old housewife stared at her younger neighbour. 'I had something coming from your room.'

'Huh?'

'Are you rearing a pet or something?' Mrs Hatena interrogated her.

'No I don't,' Shirasaki answered back firmly.

'Well whatever,' her neighbour folded her arms. 'You do know we don't allow pets here. If you happen to have one, I'll complain to the landlord.'

The door slammed back before her.

Taking a few more steps, she took out her key from her pocket to open the door.

She could hear movement from within her unit.

Shirasaki froze.

There was definitely something in her room. Mrs Hatena was right after all.

Even if it was an animal, it wasn't hers. There was a strict rule to abide that no pets were allowed in the apartment.

She opened the door, facing the greeting darkness.

The light from outside, now shown through the curtains revealed a black figure in the room. She was a little nervous at what exactly was in her room.

Reaching for her bat which she had always placed at the side of the door entrance, she raised it up, preparing to attack if the figure was going to strike at her.

'Easy now...'

She tried to calm herself down.

Her eyes were now used to the darkness within her apartment. She could see that the figure had got up and began to approach her. It was strange since she was expecting an attack.

As the distance between both of them close up, she swung her bat outwards to prevent the figure from reaching her. With a second swing, she could feel it hit the figure.

But the figure was unfazed by the attack.

The figure gave a sighed, revealing it was the voice of a man.

'I see I have yet another uncompetent...'

'Die robber!'

She screamed out at the figure, charging at him. As her hand reached for the wall, she could feel for the switch connecting to the main hall of her room.

As she swung the bat to hit the figure, she turned on the light in the room.

Just before her was a towering man who had just stopped her bat attack with one palm.

She looked closer at the man.

He was dressed in the most peculiar clothing. A red cape over his shoulders with some black vest and trousers on the inside covered his body.

Her eyes turned up to look at the dark brown eyes of the man who had blocked her attack.

'What are you trying to do?'

He closed his eyes for a moment, smirking.

'Are you some maniac?'

'Well well,' he lowered his arm down to place them on his hips. 'I never seen a Master ever trying to strike her own Servant before.'

She readjusted her spectacles to look closer at him. No doubt, dark-skinned with white hair and clad in some crazy outfit.

'Who exactly are you?'

* * *

**END CHAPTER ZERO**

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**DISCLAIMER: all characters of fate/stay night and its concept belong to TYPE-MOON**


	2. Confrontation

_The 7__th__ Summoning of Heaven's Feel._

_An unlikely occurrence._

_The previous summoning was prevented._

_On the same day, 4__th__ Apr__il 2044, the city of Fuyuki was said to have vanished._

_Together with all its residents._

_Fuyuki was not built in a day but it disappeared in one._

* * *

**Chapter 1: Confrontation**

Shirasaki looked at the man facing her.

Strange clothes did give her the feeling that this person was not a normal person.

He must be some weird person, rather.

'What do you mean by this Master-Servant relationship?'

The white-haired man folded his arms.

'So I have been summoned by someone incompetent again,' he answered with a lamenting tone, shaking his head.

'Look cosplay-san,' she addressed him sarcastically. 'I don't even get what you're trying to say.'

A folded piece of paper fell swiftly down onto the floor. The brown-headed girl looked down, noticing that the whole crazy situation here had cleaned her mind of the memory that she had received a strange letter.

Picking it up, she unfolded it slowly, revealing the contents written on it.

Her eyes fixated onto the contents of the words.

The note was from someone she knew. A person who went by the name of Professor Yaguchi. The handwriting on it seemed to be hurried.

There was something bad about the content in the letter, Shirasaki felt.

Minutes after she re-folded the piece of paper and stashed it into her longcoat pocket.

'Even if you're a so-called servant', she looked up to face the man. 'How can I possibly summon you? I have no way of casting magic, which doesn't even exist in the first place.'

'You hold the command mantra.'

She gave another doubtful look.

_You're a tattoo enthusiast, eh?_

The words of Yui sounded through her head in an instant. The strange tattoo found on her arm formed a sudden image in her mind.

She moved her gaze to look at her right arm.

Indeed, on her right arm, there existed a strange marking whose colour were distinct from her fair skin.

'This is a command mantra?'

She whispered to herself.

'That is the mantra.'

The man before answered her, surprising her that he could hear her despite her soft muttering voice.

Shirasaki took a step back. He had suddenly come so close to her.

'Watch your distance please,' she remonstrated the man dressed in red.

'Anyway, how do I address you?' She made a query.

'If we follow the book,' he answered in a calm tone. 'I'll call you Master.'

'I asked you on how I should address you.'

Her tone was aggressive and cold. This servant was trying to beat around the bush.

'You can call me Archer by my own class.'

'Class?'

'By the type of weapon we use to battle.'

Shirasaki sighed for a moment. And looked back at Archer again.

'I see that you have a very fertile imagination,' she commented back. 'To think you should be a writer or some sorts.'

'That's up to you, master.'

'I don't know what kind of a sick joke this is,' there was a sharp reply from her. 'I'm not your master and my name is Shirasaki Miyuki.'

'Understood,' he gave a quick affirmation. 'Miyuki.'

Shirasaki was a little surprised at how this Archer guy had suddenly chosen to address her by her personal name.

Well, at least he did not know infer out that her nickname was Shirasagi.

Which was frequently used by close people around her.

'Anyway, Archer-kun,' she decided to address him politely for once. 'I'll assume that you happen to be stuck in here and I'll let you stay the night here.'

'You could permit me to dematerialise into spirit form.'

Her ears rejected the words of Archer as rubbish.

'I'm afraid I don't have such ability to do so,' she responded, under the impression of playing along with him. 'It's near midnight and I need to rest now.'

'Understood, Miyuki-san,' he nodded.

She turned around to face her back to him. A person she barely knew was now addressing her by her first name.

It was a certain crazy night for her.

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The time was six in the morning.

Due to the seasonal weather, the sun had started to illuminate the skies. The sliding window was slightly ajar, allow small breezes to occasionally enter the room.

And this also allowed a small wind chime hanging by the window sill to make a sound as it was blown by the breezes.

Shirasaki laid in her futon.

The chime was beginning to awaken her.

And she had better too since it was yet another normal school day.

As she slowly opened her eyes, the beige colour of her ceiling greeted her. She got up from her futon and looked subconsciously around her surroundings.

There was no commotion outside.

Perhaps the events of the previous night were just a dream.

From what she could remember, she had ordered the man in red to only rest in the living room while she retired to her small personal room.

Shirasaki slided open the door to look in her main apartment room.

On the coffee table, there laid a tray with bread and butter garnished on a plate. She could also sense something strange about the room.

Comparatively, the room was strangely cleaner than usual.

She had no time to clean her room thoroughly.

The only time she could remember was when she last moved in.

'Did he do this out of gratitude?'

Shirasaki questioned herself.

She entered the room and sat down on the floor to look closely at the tray.

A shadow darkened the surface of the wooden table. Shirasaki looked up, expecting to see the supposed maker of the meal.

'Yahoo! Shirasagi~!'

'Yu-chan...' she muttered to herself.

There was something very wrong about how Yui came to be in her room.

'How did you get in?' She exclaimed.

Yui pointed to a direction. Shirasaki turned behind to look at the direction of her finger.

There was nothing there.

'That's strange,' Yui looked at the direction in perplexity. 'He was there a while ago.'

'He?'

'Your boyfriend, isn't it?'

Now Shirasaki's face began to turn red at the awkward words of her friend.

'What did you say again?!'

'Admit it Shirasagi,' Yui placed her hands on her hips. 'You never told me you were rearing some man here.'

'I did not!'

The door of the main apartment unit opened to allow light to enter the room from outside. The man she saw the night before stepped into the room.

There was something different about him.

He was not wearing those peculiar costume, but simply just a black shirt and pants. The only outstanding part of him was his white hair.

'I see you have woke up, Miyuki-san,' he stood before her.

'Miyuki....san...?' Yui crept closer to her, curious to know why this man was addressing her friend by her first name.

'Nothing of that sort!' Shirasaki turned behind to give her the signal of denial.

She turned around again to face her so-called servant.

'Anyway,' she turned her gaze away from his eyes. 'How did you get out and in again?'

'You left this on the table,' he answered raising his left hand which a bunch of keys hung from it.

She snatched the keys immediately from him.

'I don't know what you intend to do,' she looked up at him angrily. 'Don't go around touching my stuff.'

'Understood.'

'And besides,' she pointed to the food lying on the tray. 'Did you do this?'

'Yes.'

'Thanks,' she folded her arms, remaining silent.

'I have something to report to you, Miyuki-san,' he broke the silence.

'I'm going to be late for my school,' Shirasaki entered her personal room, shutting the door. 'You can tell me your crap afterwards.'

'That's the first time I've seen Shirasagi so fired up in the morning,' Yui commented as she looked at the shut door.

'Shirasagi?'

'Oh?' Yui answered in mischief. 'Didn't you know? That's her nickname actually.'

She made a few steps closer to the man.

'Say,' she suggested. 'What's your relationship with Shirasagi, eh?'

'She's my master.'

'Then you're the slave?' Yui responded suddenly with probably a strange fantasy appearing in her mind.

The sliding door slided open. Yui turned her look to her friend.

'I didn't know you had such wild desires,' she questioned immediately, pointing to the man. 'So you're a BDSM enthusiast besides being a tattoo one?'

Shirasaki looked at the white-haired guy.

'Did you have to say everything?'

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'I see,' Yui gave a pat on her friend's shoulder. 'So Archer was your distant relative?'

'That's right,' Shirasaki answered calmly. She had a whole ten minutes trying to clear up the misunderstanding of the relationship with Archer.

The two of them were on a monorail to the university. Although her house was in far-off Setagaya, the decade old Tokyo Central Monorail linked the city conveniently, allowing her to commute to the university within fifteen minutes.

It was probably a blessing to stay in the Tokyo of AD 2104.

However, as far as she could remember, she didn't stay in Tokyo all the time.

There was a piece of her memory missing. It was perhaps due to she was probably too young to remember it, as she had concluded.

There was only this strange person who was supporting her by the name of Professor Yaguchi.

As Shirasaki looked up at the digital screen projected on the window of the monorail car, there was a news channel being broadcasted.

'It seems bad again,' Yui blurted out suddenly. She was also looking at the screen.

On the headlines, there was yet another strange disappearance of someone.

'Someone must be causing all of this,' Shirasaki responded to Yui's words.

'It must be that Hell Gate.'

Yui had mentioned about something similar the night before.

'What Hell Gate?'

'You didn't know about it?' Yui answered. 'There is this abandoned shrine in one part of Setagaya that has been rumoured to have its gate as the Hell Gate.'

The last few words from Yui's mouth gave her a spiny creepy feeling.

Turning back to look at the news channel, a thought emerged onto Shirasaki's mind.

If the victim disappeared at night, it coincided with Archer's appearance too.

There could have been some relation to it too.

No doubt, it could not be a coincidence, as she thought.

'A penny for your thoughts?' Yui questioned her in concern.

'It's nothing.'

The monorail slowed down to a halt.

The sound system sounded out to indicate the station's name. Not surprisingly, it was the destination. The doors opened, spurring the passengers to alight from the monorail car.

Yui pushed her way through first.

Being the last to alight, Shirasaki stepped out of the car, passing through the doors.

A strange aura struck her from the right.

She turned to look at the source of the aura.

A bespectacled boy with a woollen vest worn over his shirt stood there before her. Like any normal student of the university, he had a few books bundled up with a string tucked under his arm.

He was smiling, though it was like a forced one.

No, it was more like a smirk.

'Hello Shirasaki-kun.'

This was peculiar to her. A boy she didn't know knew her name.

'Do I know you...?'

'Not really,' he adjusted his squarish glasses, looking up to see her. 'But I am impressed with you.'

'I don't get what you mean.'

He began to leave. As he walked past her, he stopped short a few metres from her.

'But I do hope to see you soon.'

The boy continued his departure from the station platform.

'Shirasagi!'

Yui came back to where Shirasaki-san was.

'What's taking you? And who's that boy?'

She looked at the boy who was walking away.

'Someone random again.'

The both of them looked at the back of the enigmatic figure.

But no doubt, Shirasaki had felt a strange aura. And just at the same time, this boy approached her like he knew her well.

There was going to be a strange development of events soon.

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The boring sound of the professor was began to drown her out. Sitting on one of the higher rows in the auditorium, Shirasaki was beginning to fall asleep again.

She told herself not to do so.

This professor was a fiercer one.

Professor Moriyama had a famous history of throwing out students who were not paying attention to her lectures.

This was in total contrast to her appearance, which she had yellow hair coupled with green eyes. In short, she had the image of some infirmary nurse than some terror professor.

However, some people had mentioned about how young this professor was. She was only a decade older than most of the students lying in the auditorium.

As Shirasaki looked around, she ascertained that Yui-chan was next to her. Despite her playful character, the ponytailed girl had a very serious attitude when it came to academics.

And on her left, her eye caught a certain familiar sight.

The same boy was there. She could tell it by his familiar studious hairstyle and its hue of violet. He was wearing glasses too which made him stand out too.

It was still uncommon for people in Japan to wear glasses unless they were really, stereotypically, the studious kind.

And his eyes were looking at hers, with a smirk on his face.

'Why is he looking at me again?' She questioned herself mentally.

'Are you listening to the class?' She felt her right side being nudged by Yui.

Shirasaki averted her stare from the left to the front. She had better not look elsewhere to avoid the professor noticing her not paying attention.

Or she had thought so.

'I'll need a volunteer to show how this forumla works,' the professor slammed both hands on the desk.

She opened a brown school file to look at the contents.

'Shirasaki Miyuki.'

There was no response.

'Shirasaki Miyuki.'

'Present.'

The professor looked up to see that a brown-haired girl had raised her hand.

'Good,' Professor Moriyama responded to her with a seemingly authentic smile. 'You're on.'

With a blank mind, Shirasaki slowly made her way down the steps leading to the teaching platform. On the whiteboard, there was a whole bunch of formulae that seemed like jabberwocky to her.

She took a deep breath, approaching the teaching platform.

Her luck must have been rotten recently, as she thought.

Picking up the red marker pen from the wooden surface of the teaching desk, she took a few more steps to stand before the whiteboard.

Smudging the edge of the board, the marker began to move.

Shirasaki felt dizzy a little. The whole auditorium was watching her complete the strange problem on the whiteboard.

No, it was almost like the whole world was observing her rather.

Knowing she had to be truthful, she dropped the market tip from the edge of the board. Turning around, she bowed to Professor Moriyama.

'I'm sorry! I can't do it! I wasn't paying attention!'

There was utter silence in the air around her.

'How were you able to solve it?'

An unexpected response from the Professor. She recovered her posture, facing a surprised-looking Professor before her.

Shirasaki turned around, looking at the contents of the whiteboard.

A wave of shock splashed on her face.

On the whiteboard itself, there was an entire array of mathematical forumlae never seen before that had been written on it. It was only minutes ago when she had started to write down her answer to the question.

The Professor adjusted her tinted glasses.

'I see you have done well,' she spoke in a solemn tone, giving a pat on Shirasaki's shoulder. 'Well done.'

Shirasaki gave a small bow without question, and returned up to her seat, aware too that everyone were having their eyes stuck on her.

'How did you do that?'

Yui asked curiously.

But deep down, Shirasaki had no answer for that.

She did not even know how she had done it. For all of what she could remember, her arm was the one moving automatically on its own, doing the bunch of rubbish on the board.

It was, as if, her subconsciousness was doing the thinking than herself.

As she turned to her left again, she could see the look from the same person in her direction again.

An utter change of events.

This was getting a little too strange for her.

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It was now early evening, evident by the orange hue of the sky with sparse clouds floating.

Outside the huge majestic gates of this capital region university, a lone man stood outside. The season was autumn but it was still rather warm.

That was what this lone man thought so.

The people around him were wearing thicker clothing than him.

He was just dressed in a black shirt and trousers.

He opened his eyes to look at his surroundings.

'I see that you're here.'

He heard a voice from behind.

Archer did not feel the need to turn behind to look who it was.

After all, he was an accomplished veteran in sensing too.

'You're not just any normal person.'

'That's right,' the mouth of the person behind twisted into a smile.

'Waiting for your master?'

'That is the duty of the servant.'

'I see,' the boy behind answered. 'When night falls, the fun begins.'

'That's none of my concern.'

'It should, be of your master's concern then,' the answer came around.

'My master is incompetent.'

'That's for you to say,' the voice came closer to Archer's ears. It was as if he was going to whisper something.

'The horror will come back soon,' the voice whispered.

'I see.'

'It appears I have spoken too much,' he answered back. 'I shall take my leave now.'

And the voice went away with the distancing of the footsteps.

At the same time, Archer looked ahead, noticing a few figures beginning to appear on the road behind the gates of the institution.

He approached one pillar of the gate, leaning against it, folding his arms.

'A-Archer?!' He heard the voice he expected to hear. He opened his eyes to look at the short-haired spectacled girl.

'I see this is where you go to,' he answered her.

'Didn't I tell you to go back to where you came from?'

'Where I came from is where you're from.'

'Shirasagi....'

Yui's voice came from behind.

'Didn't you tell me you two were relatives?' Yui-chan's eerie tone filled the air. 'I see now that you two were having more than that.'

'I'll bring Miyuki-san back from here,' Archer's words suddenly came out. 'Thank you, Yui-san.'

'W-What!?'

Shirasaki took a step back.

'I'm going with Yui-chan to Kitazawa.'

'I shall tag along then,' he answered her coldly, looking a little irritated. To Shirasaki, it was as if she was a rather difficult person to handle.

'There...There's no need!' She pushed out her palm to just a few centimetres before Archer's face. 'You can go back first!'

'Very well,' he folded his arms. 'Be careful then. Summon me if you meet into trouble.'

And Archer began to walk away. Before they knew it, he had disappeared, as if it was like he had melted into the surrondings.

'Summon?'

Yui questioned her suspiciously.

Ignoring her friend in a fit of anger, Shirasaki walked on brisky ahead.

'Hey! I was just joking only!'

Yui began to chase up with her friend again.

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At night, Kitazawa was the centre of all commercial acitvities in Setagaya town. The final meeting place before residents returned to their homes in the surrounding suburbs, it was normal for both Yui and Shirasaki to meet there before it was too late to return home on the last train.

At a family restaurant, which was plainly a restaurant for lower income customers, the two of them were seated opposite each other. On Yui's left was the great glass window of the outside of the sole building of this restaurant.

'Shirasaki-san,' she answered politely. Shirasaki sensed immediately that there was something going on Yui's mind.

The girl with a high ponytail dug into her small slingbag. Within minutes, she produced heaps of paper onto the table, which was meant for eating and not for work.

'Can you teach me some of the tutorials?'

Shirasaki looked at her shockingly.

'What I did in today's lecture,' she heaved a sigh. 'Was just purely out of luck.'

'You're lying.'

'No, I'm serious,' she dug into her own haversack, taking out a bunch of files that seemed to be brand-new. Opening one page up, she revealed the contents to the girl opposite her. 'Look, that's how much I've absorbed.'

Yui looked astonishingly. The contents of the file was almost blank. If not, there were several doodles on the paper.

'Shirsagi...' her voice turned cold.

There was an air of suspense around the spectacled girl. There was no telling what Yui was going to do next.

'You're a genius!' Yui laughed unexpectedly. 'I can't believe you slept in class yet you could solve that problem!'

Outside the restaurant, in the street of buildings, there were two figures standing in an alley, a spot where the restaurant could be easily seen yet the observers could not be seen easily.

One of the dark figures, a woman, stared at the two girls through her lenses.

'So I see,' she muttered to herself. 'So that's what is causing the strange things around here.'

'You're always as smart as ever, master.'

'There's nothing for us here,' the lady replied. 'Come.'

And the two figures melted into the darkness of the alley.

Back at the restaurant, Shirasaki was trying hard to look into the worksheet. The papers were killer material to her.

If only her subconsciousness came back to help her solve the problem.

Yui stared blankly outside the window. Pressing a button curiously under the table, a holographic television screen projected onto the transparent window.

It was space saving to have such functions since it would have cost more to have a machine used solely as a television.

There was yet another news channel.

As of recent, many businesses in Setagaya had usually tuned in to the news channel. The many strange occurrences in Setagaya were causing a growing concern that most residents preferred to tune into the news rather.

'There has been a power failure in West Setagaya,' the news caster broke the information out. Yui's eyes widened. Her home was in the area just reported. 'Trains have shut down and there may be a delay in travelling time to and fro. Residents staying there are advised to leave earlier.'

She turned to see Shirasaki still fumbling over the pieces of paper.

Yui quickly snatched the few pieces of paper, causing her friend to look at her.

'Look, I've got to go now,' Yui exclaimed suddenly, behaving in a rushed manner. She stood up instantly.

'Aren't we supposed to help you with your work?'

'That can wait I guess,' Yui replied with a smile. 'Keep it on my tab. I need to you to settle the bill first!'

And before Shirasaki knew it, her friend was gone as she bolted through the doors, ignoring the staff behind who were thanking her for patronising the restaurant.

'Really...' She placed her hand on her forehead.

Pressing a button under her table, she looked to her right to see the holographic screen change to a main menu type that had the option of calling for the bill.

She pressed on the option on the touchscreen window.

An attendant came to her table.

'The bill, Madam?'

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Nearby the Kitazawa area, there was the famed area of the abandoned shrine which had become the centre of strange events happening there. The shrine was abandoned because many construction companies attempting to demolish it had met up with mishaps.

Besides going bankrupt, they had met up with several other problems like the sudden disappearances of their workers, causing a worry to the public there.

Shirasaki walked slowly along the barely-lit street. Her home was relatively in the central area yet it was rather far from the station.

The vicinity was almost vacant to the extent of being eerie.

The surroundings could be well-fitted for some horror movie shot, as she thought to herself.

The cold air complemented the creation for some weird apparition to come out.

The entire area felt like a labyrinth to her. With the non-maintenance of the street lights around, it was becoming dimmer and dimmer. Most residents staying around the area were already asleep by now.

It was only past nine o'clock.

_La la la la..._

Her mind was playing tricks on her.

There was a faint sound she could hear somewhere.

_La la la la..._

The sound seemed stronger from the direction in the east. She turned her direction to look at where it was coming from.

_La la la la la la..._

Indeed, the sound was stronger from the direction she had just turned to.

The faint voice was like the sound of a child. But it was strange for a child to be playing out in the streets at night.

No, it was almost impossible at such a time in such a place where almost everyone had gone to bed.

_La la la la la la la la la la..._

She moved quickly in the opposite direction.

A sudden black figure appeared and vanished before her in the distance ahead.

It must be her hallucinations.

At the intersection nearby, a sudden soft ball bounced out and vanished into the other side.

This was getting too scary.

Somehow, Shirasaki had to make her way back quickly or something untold would happen, as these orders from her consciousness raced through her mind.

Sprinting off, she ran through the street, turning through alleys and alleys. Behind her she could feel as though something was chasing her.

She would rather not try to identify what that thing was.

Before she knew it, she stopped short in her tracks. There was a dead end ahead as she could feel it.

Her ears picked out the sound of something dripping onto the ground, probably already making a puddle there.

There was an intense smell floating around too. It was rather musky.

It smelled of iron.

No, it was fresh blood rather.

There was no street lamp here, causing her eyes to experience night blindness. However, as the darkness continued, her eyes were beginning to get used to it.

She could see a certain something hanging onto the wall of the dead end.

A footstep could be heard.

_La la la la la..._

It was the same sound as before.

The dark figure approached her. As her eyes told her, she could see the figure licking its hand.

There was a strong smell of blood on the person.

Shirasaki's eyes gained complete night vision.

The figure revealed herself to be a small girl with dark hair. Her eyes were bright amber.

The little girl smiled up at the bespectacled one.

'Do you want to play with me, Onee-chan?'

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. Confrontation 2

_

* * *

_

The flowing red cape.

_The wind shuffling through seemingly bleached hair._

_The tall encompassing frame before me._

_A fuzzy feeling fills the heart._

_No, rather a nostalgic feeling._

_It has been too long._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Confrontation -2-**

The new moon persisted across the blackened sky.

It was only nine but the entire area was as quiet as in the wee hours of the morning. No one now dared to walk around outside for the creepy rumours of strange happenings.

In short, there was a hidden curfew set in the minds of the residents here.

The air was as still as the sound of the surroundings.

A cold breeze blew across an apartment block, causing a twig to scratch against the concrete floor. Despite the soft sound, the stillness of the air amplified its decibels to an audible range.

The sound of someone approaching was much louder, of course.

Without any bright illumination around, the figure stopped short of the apartment's front, looking up at the verandas decorating its facade.

There was no way to identify who this person was. The figure was cloaked in a brown hood of an unknown material, to the extent of having the face concealed as well.

This person could pick up the footsteps of yet another person approaching. From the glass door of the entrance, another dark figure emerged.

He was wearing the signature red cape on his back, fastened together by a string resting on his chest.

This was a servant.

And that means he was not a human but just a spirit in materialised form. As what the figure evaluated.

'I don't perceive you as an ally.'

The silence was broken with the voice of the man.

Archer stood before the hooded figure.

'Heh.'

The gesture made by the other party had a rather high pitch. This person could be a child or a woman, as Archer deduced.

A bright apparition began to materialise in Archer's arms. As the moment went by, it took the form of a bow.

The servant pointed the summoned bow in the direction of the hooded person, with a bright sharp arrow preparing to be fired at his opponent.

'What is your intention here?'

'So you're Archer I see.'

He could sense a smile being drawn on the person's face.

The other party was strangely calm though it was about to be attacked.

'I ask of you again,' he demanded again. 'What is your intention here?'

The figure remained silent, simply standing before him.

Archer's arrow was glowing but it could not illuminate directly into the hood of the person to see who it was.

'If you are remaining silent,' he prepared his bow for firing. 'Then remain silent for ever.'

And the white-haired guardian released his hold.

The glowing arrow accelerated, approaching its target.

The hooded figure raised its palm. There was no sign of anything forming into a shield.

As it hit the figure, a bright flash ensued. In moments, the flash was gone.

Contrary to Archer's expectations, the figure was not defeated. In fact, in one of its hands, the glowing arrow was held on to.

'I'm impressed with this, Archer.'

The sarcastic tone filled the servant's ears.

The weapon held in the hooded person's hands was near, illuminating the jaw of the person.

With Archer's sharp eyes, he could see that his opponent was definitely a woman. But it was difficult to tell under the darkness of night, especially under a new moon.

'I suppose this is yours then.'

The cold voice of the other person was followed by a throw of the glowing arrow back at the servant.

The retrograde arrow flew back at its maker at top speed, almost at the same level. Dodging the arrow, Archer jumped to one side, resulting in the resultant flash of light as the weapon disappeared.

This person here was not just any normal opponent, as what Archer judged.

He stood directly metres away from the hooded figure.

Raising his bow again, the servant pointed another arrow at his opponent. This time, it was not just any of his normal arrows.

The arrow was black but shining.

Hrunting was a black sword that could be used for the maximum accuracy in hitting the target. When used as a Broken Phantasm, it would simply break through anything in order to simply hit its target.

'Heh.'

The same gesture came from his opponent.

He pulled back the sword further.

'I'm not here to battle with you,' the person spoke suddenly.

Silence ensued.

It was interrupted by yet another cold breeze blowing leaves across the concrete grey ground, causing their sides to scratch across it.

'I see you're wasting precious mana,' the figure continued. 'If your master dies, you will have no more mana to depend on though you probably can survive on your own for a while.'

'I ask again,' Archer responded. 'What is your intention?'

'There is going to be an interesting development of events here,' the hooded one responded without answering the question. 'I can only spoil you with one thing. Your master is quite in danger.'

'That is impossible,' Archer doubted it. 'Her life force is still well.'

'Then why do you think I'm here?'

A soft chuckle came from behind the darkness in the hood.

Realising what was going on, Archer released the sword from his bow. The sword-turned-arrow glowed red, pushing its way towards the figure.

At full speed, the arrow pierced the clothing, going through it. It was as if the arrow had simply gone through a mere sandbag.

The sword ended its flight, hitting the wall of another building.

Archer lowered his bow, looking at his opponent.

What was left of his opponent was just a heap of the clothing it had just worn.

His opponent could have materialised into spirit form to avoid the attack.

But it was way too fast to do that process to avoid Hrunting's attack.

He made a few steps, arriving just before the pile. Bending down, he picked up the hood. As he lifted it up in his hand, a piece of paper fluttered down to the ground.

It was a small piece of paper in the shape of a human, with a single tear across it.

'Shikigami, eh?' He muttered.

Taking the shikigami in the other hand, he turned it over.

There was a few vague writings on it.

The most prominent of it were three Kanji characters written on it.

The characters had an obscure nature and it was difficult to pronounce it.

Putting the torn shikigami in one pocket, he jumped up into the air, towards where he could feel his master's aura.

Now, he could tell that his master's aura was not looking good.

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_La la la la la la..._

The dark-haired girl hummed to herself, standing before the older brown-haired girl.

Her fingers moved up to the lips of the older one.

Those fingers were smeared with a red liquid.

Fresh blood, to be exact.

Slowly, she painted the lips of the spectacled girl who had been rooted to the ground.

Shirasaki was not shaking but she did not understand why she could not move.

Deep down she was in fear but yet she felt she could actually run away now.

She could only feel the intense smell of blood.

And this little girl here was painting blood on her lips like it was lipstick.

Before long, the girl had finished smearing the fresh crimson blood on Shirasaki's lips.

'Yay!'

The girl smiled at the bespectacled girl.

'You look beautiful, Onee-chan,' she complimented.

The blood on Shirasaki's lips felt warm.

It was the blood of someone who had bled not long ago.

Yet, the intense, puking smell of the liquid was filling up her nose with its odours.

Now, the other girl began to paint her lips with her own fingers too.

'I have no more of it,' she looked curiously at her finger as she bent down. In the darkness, the girl was seen to be touching something on the floor.

There was a stream of blood on the stone floor.

Retouching the bloodied ground with her finger, the blue-black haired girl resumed painting her lips with the bright red material.

She turned behind, revealing her bright red lips too.

'Let's pretend to be sisters, Onee-chan!'

The girl held both of Shirasaki's hands.

The brown-haired girl could now realise that the amber eyes of the other girl seemed to be void of any feeling.

She felt as though she was looking in the eyes of a doll.

The girl tiptoed out, preparing to touch her lips with her 'sister'.

She drew closer.

Shirasaki had a bad feeling of what was going to happen.

In a sudden turn of events, the younger girl jumped a step back, separating from Shirasaki.

An bright flashing arrow zipped past the distance between them.

Shirasaki looked at the direction of the arrow.

A familiar, white-haired man was standing on the top of the nearby wall, with a bow in his hands.

'Archer...?'

'Miyuki-san,' the servant responded. 'Move to the side of the wall.'

He raised his bow again, forming another flashing arrow to fire at the little girl again.

'Onii-chan is bad,' the girl stood firmly on the ground, looking up at Archer. 'He wants to spoil the fun between Hazuki and Onee-chan!'

'Hazuki...?'

Shirasaki finally learnt the name of the little girl.

'The one who is spoiling the fun is only you, monster,' he replied coldly, releasing the arrow upon her.

Hazuki dodged the arrow again, jumping a few metres away from it.

'Onii-chan is bad,' she responded. She looked back at Shirasaki.

'Hazuki will come again to play with Onee-chan,' she produced a smile on her small, white face.

And with that, the dark-haired girl jumped into the darkness, disappearing in a sudden.

The red servant jumped down from the wall, just arriving next to Shirasaki.

'Miyuki-san,' he started off. 'I need your permission to pursue that girl.'

'It's okay,' Shirasaki shook her head. As she closed her lips, some of the smeared blood entered her mouth, causing her cough and spit it out in disgust.

The spit blood, however, went onto Archer's black pants, creating an interesting red stain contrast against the black texture.

'Oh shit!' She gasped, looking at the mess she had done.

'We have to get away from here now,' he ignored her response, sighing a little. He turned his head to the source of the intense smell, knowing what lied there but it was better for the police to handle it.

'I have to call the police!'

She took out her handphone, only to have it be snatched away by her servant.

'Don't be stupid!' Archer answered back in an irritated tone. 'What would they do if they found you here?'

'That's right...'

She knew that she was too panicky in handling things. And at the most inappropriate time, she had chosen to call the police.

Shirasaki lowered her hand, placing the handphone back in the pocket in her brown coat.

'We have to get away from here,' he repeated his words. 'It won't be good if another magical entity showed up again.'

He received his answer with a nod from Shirasaki.

As Shirasaki began to walk, she felt faint.

She placed her hand to her forehead. No, she was not running a temperature.

Somehow, the ordeal had made her feel weak, in addition to the intense smell around that was weakening her constitution.

But however, she felt a sudden force from behind lift her up. Before she knew it, she could see Archer's face up close to hers.

Hers eyes widened, regaining her consciousness fully again.

He was carrying her with both his arms.

'What are you doing?' She demanded.

'I can sense your power a little weakening,' he replied to her. A smirk was written on his face.

'Put me down.'

'This is the most efficient way to bring you back.'

'I say put me down!' She screeched at him.

He abided, putting her down on her feet again.

As soon as Shirasaki's feet touched the ground, her head began to spin again. It was the wrong timing.

'Nevermind, Archer,' she looked away, her forehead resting on her palm. He was about to carry her up again.

The spectacled girl know she was blushing yet she didn't want to show it to her so-called servant.

'Just carry me on your back,' she turned back to him after pulling herself together.

'If that is the best way, I'll do it,' he responded. The servant made a short bent, allowing her to come onto his back, locking her arms around his neck.

Shirasaki was not a very short person but she could feel the height difference seen from Archer when he regain his posture again.

But nevertheless, she wanted to simply get away from the area.

Archer began to walk.

He was walking at a normal speed, despite her weight pushing onto his back.

This so-called servant must be very strong, as she concluded.

Soon, she felt exhausted by what had happened and fell asleep on his shoulder.

It was just the most awkward thing for her to do.

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Shirasaki regained her consciousness, still lying on Archer's back.

It must have been a few minutes that she was knocked out from.

But somehow she felt better now.

Looking ahead, she could tell that she was near her apartment.

'Archer.'

He stopped in his tracks.

'Put me down. I'm feeling better.'

The servant obliged and bent down to allow her to touch the ground again.

She walked in front of him, stopping for a while.

'People will have other ideas if they see us like this.'

Without turning around, she could tell that he was agreeing with her.

On a dark night, the neighbourhood was quiet.

Her apartment was also dark.

All of the residents must have gone to sleep.

Only the corridor lights lining the apartment were only lit.

She made her way up the staircase to her floor.

Despite the energy needed to climb up the stairs, Archer managed to climb it up with no extra effort.

Shirasaki approached her unit, noticing that there was someone at the corridor again.

The person was probably a woman, as seen by the shape of the figure.

The woman was smoking. Taking out a new cigarette, she lit the lighter, burning the tip of it and placed it in her mouth before breathing out the smoke.

She approached the figure.

The person turned around to reveal her red hair and glasses.

'Professor Moriyama?!'

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Shirasaki walked into the living room with a tray in her hand. And on the tray, there were clay mugs full of warm green tea.

'Please have some tea,' she replied politely to her professor who was sitting by the table.

On the opposite side, Archer was seated as well.

As Shirasaki had realised minutes earlier, she did not seem to see if Archer had ate or drank for the past time.

Whether or not he needed to eat or drink, it was out of common courtesy to serve some tea.

'Thank you, Shirasaki-san.'

'Archer, you don't drink tea?'

'Servants don't need food or water,' the Professor interrupted. 'It's like an extra snack to them.'

'Professor...?'

Moriyama looked at her, putting down the clay mug on the table surface.

'I guess I forgot to tell my purpose for my visit.'

Shirasaki sat down next to the Professor, taking a sip from her own clay mug.

'I guess you didn't know why your servant came to you.'

The brown-haired student shook her head.

'Do you know of the Holy Grail War?'

'A legend told by someone I know,' Shirasaki answered vaguely. True, someone had ever told her this story as it was an exciting heroic epic.

'I see that you know,' the other woman gave a small smile. 'Only that it wasn't a legend.'

'Wait,' Shirasaki got up, going over to one coat hung by a hook. She dug into its pockets. And soon, her emerged with a crumpled piece of paper.'

'I couldn't really read this writing,' she handed the paper to the Professor. Taking the letter, the Professor fixated her eyes onto it. 'All I knew is that it was weird.'

'Professor Yaguchi?'

'That was the person who told me about the Holy Grail War.'

'I see,' she folded the paper, resting it on the table. 'As expected of him to know about it.'

Moriyama turned to look at Archer who was trying to drink the tea. From the look of his expression, he was not very happy with the green tea Shirasaki had made.

'Archer,' she spoke. 'What do you remember of your true identity?'

'My master's power was incomplete,' he replied formally. 'I have only fragments of my memories of who I am.'

'I see.'

'But I don't have any power to begin with!' Shirasaki retorted.

'Every human is born with a mage circuit,' the Professor turned to look at the girl again. 'And most of them go about their daily lives without realising that they have it.'

'Then why doesn't magic exist out publicly in the real world?'

'Magic is dangerous business,' she answered. 'A long time ago, the Association of Mages decided that it was too dangerous that it should be kept a secret. Any mage who dared to expose its truth to the public would be silenced.'

'But,' she adjusted her glasses, knowing Shirasaki was going to rebutt. 'To tell a few is okay as long as it does not spread out as gossip.'

'Why did you say then that Professor Yaguchi knew about this Holy Grail War?'

Moriyama took off her glasses for a moment and took a short sip on the tea.

Suddenly, Archer stood up.

Shirasaki looked at his sudden reaction.

'This is not tea,' he asserted. 'I'll show you what is real tea.'

And the servant gathered the cups onto the tray, bringing them with him to the kitchen.

Shirasaki made a small smile. Though he was quite cold and rather the weird person, he did have some points which made him interesting too.

'What did Yaguchi tell you about the Holy Grail War?'

The professor put back on her glasses.

'He told me...' Shirasaki's voice trailed off as she tried to remember. '...of an epic of magicians and their familiars in a war to get a special prize called the Holy Grail.'

'It did seem like an epic,' she commented. 'Only it was a very real epic.'

And she took out yet another cigarette from a box in her pocket.

'No smoking please, Professor Moriyama,' Shirasaki exclaimed suddenly, knowing she did not want the smoke to engulf the entire room.

'I'll pass then,' she replied, putting away the unlit stick. She took a deep breath.

'There should have been no more Holy Grail wars,' she continued her story. 'It should have ended with the Fifth a hundred years ago.'

'A hundred years ago?'

'That was in AD 2004. Which is exact since the current year is AD 2104. The winner of that war was a boy named Emiya Shirou.'

She turned to look at Archer who was preparing something. It seemed that he was not bothering to hear the conversation.

'He destroyed the Holy Grail for good, as said. But two decades around, the Holy Grail came back.'

'It came back?'

'No doubt. Right at the same place, Fuyuki City.'

'Fuyuki City?'

'It doesn't exist now in the records of the non-magical world,' Moriyama had a solemn look on her face. Archer brought the tray over to the table, showing that there were three tea cups on it.

He distributed the tea cups, slowly placing one each before each person.

'Archer, where did you get these tea cups from...' she looked at the tea-cup, not remembering how she had them in the first place.

Her mind suddenly had a flashback on where these teacups were from.

'Those are branded teacups!' She exclaimed at Archer. He had a proud expression, as if the tea he had made was a masterpiece.

It was a hobby to collect branded teacups such as Hermes, but it was not normal to use them as daily necessities as they had the purpose of being decoration.

She had received the teacups from a certain someone years ago after helping out in some voluntary work.

That person had to be a philanthropist, as she thought then.

'Don't be materialistic,' he folded his arms. 'Try the tea.'

Puffing her cheeks up, Shirasaki picked up the teacup, putting the side of it to her lips. The warm liquid slowly flowed into her mouth.

There was a certain feeling of bliss feeling her heart.

The tea was not hot and it was sweet yet not in excess of it.

To think Archer was an accomplished tea maker, as Shirasaki thought.

Professor Moriyama placed the tea-cup down, having tried the tea. Her eyes were now in the direction towards the white-haired guardian.

'This is good tea, Archer,' she praised. 'You have done quite a good job as a servant.'

'Thank you, Moriyama-san,' he answered back modestly.

'It comes to no surprise since you were once in the Fifth Holy Grail War,' she had a sly look in her eyes. 'The servant of Tohsaka Rin.'

'Tohsaka Rin...?'

The professor now turned to look at the spectacled girl.

'That's right,' she smiled. 'One of the participants of the Fifth War and the one who managed to subdue the Sixth one.'

'Subdue...?'

'The Sixth Holy Grail came back in a more violent and unorthodox form,' she cleared the air of doubts. 'Tohsaka Rin, the one who sealed it.'

She looked back at the servant, who had now seemed to look more interested yet he was still calm about it.

'Tohsaka Rin sealed the Sixth Holy Grail, vanishing with it alongside Fuyuki City. No one now knows where she is.'

'No one know...?'

'Though she sealed it, some magicians believe that her seal has waned, causing strange occurrences over Japan. And perhaps, the Holy Grail is back to cause more havoc again.'

'So the legend is now reality?'

'You could say so,' Moriyama answered. 'And one of the signs is that of you summoning Archer.'

She looked at the clock, noticing that the hour hand was pointing to the top. It was already past midnight.

The professor got up.

'Professor, you're leaving...?'

'I have to go now,' she replied back. 'I can't really ascertain Archer's link with you for now but I'll find it out for you.'

'You're not involved in this war?'

'I won't really disclose that,' she began to walk towards the entrance without turning back. 'But come and see me tomorrow in the afternoon at university.'

She turned around to face Shirasaki.

'Thank you for the patronage anyway,' she bowed before her student. As a form of courtesy, Shirasaki bowed too before her professor.

Opening the entrance door, the cold currents of air blew in. Professor Moriyama took a step outside, feeling the coldness and stillness of the outside air which was in contrast to Shirasaki's warm apartment.

'Goodnight, Shirasaki-san.'

'Goodnight, Professor.'

And the door to the apartment shut close.

The professor made her way down the corridor. A dark shadow approached her from behind.

She was not unfazed by it.

In fact, she knew that shadow.

'I see you decided to spoil her with everything,' the shadow spoke.

'The new master will eventually find out sooner or later,' Moriyama took out her cigarette and lit it, blowing out the smoke through her nostrils again.

The shadow receded, leaving Moriyama to walk down the barely-lit stairs.

On a nearby rooftop, there was another figure nearby who could or could not be probably sensed by the Professor.

The sky was dark, leaving most of his face uncovered.

His mouth was twisted into a small smile.

'So it begins, I see.'

Those were the only words he muttered out for the moment.

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The clock in Shirasaki's apartment made its way to three or four in the morning.

Fast asleep in her futon, the girl was tucked in it warmly. The next day was going to be yet another busy day for her.

Outside in the living room, her servant was not resting.

Servants did not need to rest unless they were severely injured.

For an Archer class, they attacked from a distance, usually rendering them the least damage from others.

The dark-skinned man leaned against the wall, looking at the night sky though it had no moon illuminating the sky.

In his hand, there was the crushed shape of the shikigami that was dropped by the seemingly defeated hooded figure earlier on.

The words on it were written in a similar yet unfamiliar way.

Somehow, he had to find out what it meant.

There was no way that hooded person came to the apartment by chance.

Deep down, he could feel that something was soon to happen.

There was something wrong about this city, Tokyo.

Perhaps, the Seventh Holy Grail War was about to start.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Confrontation 3

A/N: Hi there! It must be weird for me to write author's notes in this chapter in the middle of nowhere. But anyway, for the readers who have managed to read up to this chapter, I thank you for your current support.

However, I'm here to raise this story here for criticisms. Instead of reviews, please feel free to post your questions on the flaws of this story as 'reviews' instead. My story is subject to change and the readers out there are the ones who can make it happen!

But if you have no doubts about this story, feel free to read this story at your own leisure. I have a scheduled number of chapters for this story, but this is not the end. 'Crimson Guardian' is part one of a set of stories I'm going to publish.

Anyway, we will start the story proper now.

Once again, thank you for your support!

_DarkHonour_

* * *

_AD 2015, September 7__th__, 3am._

_A corpse of a young woman was found lying in a street alley in a suburb of one Japanese city._

_She was severely stabbed by countless swords like needles piercing a cotton ball._

_Cause of death was loss of blood._

_Under the Firearms Control Law in Japan, it was impossible for the criminal to have that many swords._

_The police closed the case as yet another unexplained one._

_Her identification card was found slammed into her mouth._

_The portion containing her first name was broken off._

_Only the last name was printed on it - - Matou._

**CHAPTER THREE: Confrontation -3-**

* * *

The night air was still.

It was indeed dark. In fact, it was extremely dark for one place where the street lamps were no longer maintained.

As one lamp flickered on and off in alternating seconds, it illuminated the side of a stone wall that had a directional writing on it.

Tenraku Temple.

That was what the writing showed to any passerby if it was to be seen.

Footsteps of a certain person approached.

A little girl with dark hair was approaching the sign. She had an appointment at this nearby temple.

Or should it be called a temple?

No, it should be an abandoned structure. The area around the temple was also filled with buildings.

Empty buildings to be exact.

The vicinity had been vacant for quite some time.

That was ever since the urban legend of Tenraku Temple came out through Setagaya Town.

As the street lamp continued to flicker, it managed to shine onto the shape of someone leaning near the stone wall.

It was a male who seemed to be waiting for someone.

_La la la la la la..._

He could hear of someone approaching. It was someone whom he was expecting. Whether or not that girl expected him, he did not care.

He regained his posture standing opposite the girl.

The girl, called Hazuki, halted in her tracks.

'You failed, didn't you?' He started off the conversation.

'Hazuki did not fail!' She exclaimed back at him, puffing her cheeks up.

'Admit it, Hazuki-chan,' he answered in a jokingly manner. 'You lost to that servant.'

'Hazuki is only playing around first!' She argued back at him childishly.

'Then, who will report to Master today?'

Hazuki remained silent. Indeed, the man before her had a point there.

'Well well,' he shook his head slightly in the darkness. 'You owe me one more time again, Hazuki-chan.'

The man turned behind to face the dilapidated temple in the distance.

'Come,' he spoke without turning around. 'Let's go.'

'Yes!' She squealed in delight, running after the moving figure.

And the both of them walked ahead.

As they approached the still-intact torii gate of the temple, there was sheer darkness shrouding the distance between the gate and the main building.

The man raised his palm to face the darkness.

The gate glowed a fiery red, giving a signal seemingly to him.

As the two walked through it, they melted into the ebony darkness, followed by the fiery glow fading soon after.

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I opened my eyes a little. There was a little giddiness in my head. My eyes opened wider to face the ceiling.

It was strange. The ceiling was somewhat khaki like the colour of wheat.

Instinctively, I tried to feel the ground around for my glasses. After all, my myopic eyes could be playing tricks on me.

There was no pair of glasses lying around.

This was strange. The previous night, I had remembered placing my spectacles on the right before I retired to my futon.

Getting up a little, I rubbed my eyes a little.

Blinking a little more, I noticed that I could see the texture of the surroundings around me. My eyes were strangely a little better.

My eyesight was not really horribly bad but I had always worn my glasses to make sure I could see where I was going clearly.

I got up from the tatami floor.

The tatami floor was strangely different.

This was not my apartment.

It had seemed like as though I had been carried off and put into this room.

I looked down, noticing that I was in my normal clothes used at home, which were a pullover and drawstring pants.

'Where am I...'

I muttered to myself.

Turning to face a sliding door, I slid it open to see a field of grass before me.

Only that there was a barrier between me and the grass. And that barrier was made of glass. And between the glass and me, there was a seemingly wooden boardwalk painted yellow.

That must be the corridor, I thought.

To my right I could hear a commotion. I turned to that direction, starting to walk over to the room where the noise was at.

Before I knew it, I could sense someone approaching. The noise of the steps on the wood was clearer than the concrete ones in my own apartment.

The owner of the footsteps emerged into the corridor.

My eyes met his eyes.

There was no response.

He continued walking towards me as if I was nothing.

'Hey, wait...!'

I tried to make sure if he heard me but it was to no avail.

Before I knew it, the boy walked through me. As we touched, I was hurled back to the side of the wall. The other person could not sense it and continued his own path.

As I hit the wall, my vision blacked out on me.

Auburn hair. Dark amber eyes.

Those were all of what I could remember of that boy's face.

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Shirasaki rubbed her head, opening her eyes.

It was daylight again.

It seemed that she had knocked her head against the wall as she jerked in her sleep. Nevertheless, she was awake now.

She sat up from her futon. Feeling her right, she could sense her pair of glasses.

The brown-haired girl put on her spectacles, causing everything in her vision to turn sharp.

This was reality.

The scene before was a mere dream.

But a weird one, rather.

Knowing that she had to prepare herself, she got up and slided open the door.

There was no school for her today but when she had none, it meant that she had to go for her part-time job. After all, she needed the cash to support her own consumption too.

And with a freak accident, her servant suddenly joined the household where she thought she would probably expect an increase in her spending.

To Shirasaki, a servant seemed human. And that means that humans had to satisfy their daily needs as well. And thus was her rationalisation for an increased in spending, as she pondered while drifting across the living room of her apartment.

As she moved across, she could see that the white-haired man was seated before the main table. His eyes were closed as if he was meditating.

Or it could be that he was fast asleep.

Even so, it was a weird way to slumber, as she thought.

Shirasaki stopped moving. Turning her direction, she moved closer to the servant. He was not responding. Perhaps he was really asleep, as she was convinced.

Just a few centimetres away from him, she fixated her eyes on his face.

And just then, his eyes opened, revealing seemingly grey eyes.

She pulled back, shocked at his sudden reaction.

'Good Morning, Miyuki-san.'

The same tone dead voice sounded to her.

'G-Good Morning,' she stammered, still in the wake of her pull back. 'I'm using the toilet.'

And she turned back to the direction of the toilet. Nevertheless, she could sense that he was still having his eyes on her.

'Really...' She scratched her head which had a few strands of hair standing from the static caused by the pillow overnight, as she entered the toilet.

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Shirasaki wore on a pullover, an attire proper for the ever-weak heater in her apartment. She was still in the toilet.

Behind the plastic door, she could hear no movement.

As her inner feeling told her, she could guess that the servant had returned to his resting position on the tatami floor.

Wiping her glasses with the cotton bath towel, she put them up and swung the toilet door opened. It was difficult to open the door at times since it needed space almost as equal as the toilet for it to swing open.

She stepped onto the tatami floor of her living room.

Her servant was there.

Archer opened his eyes to look at hers. Shirasaki had to tell him where she was going lest he would follow her again.

'Erm...' She paused for a moment.

'So will Miyuki-san be going to her school again?'

She turned her head up, surprised at his sudden friendly tone.

'No...' she answered quietly. Taking a deep breath, she collected her thoughts together.

'I'm going for my part-time job.'

It was not a day for school. But if she had no school, she could not afford to laze at home all day round. In fact, it was normal for university students to take on part-time job.

Even at the university level, Japanese students taking on part-time jobs was a rather late start.

As Shirasaki could remember, Yui-chan had a part-time job when she was half-way in middle high school, as according to what her dear friend had asserted before.

'I see.'

Archer did not ask further. Whether or not that was strange, it did not bother his master.

Shirasaki walked across her room, preparing to take her bag. As her eyes turned to look back at the main table, there was a single teacup resting on the surface.

It was strangely tempting her.

The previous night, as she could remember, her so-called servant had prepared a tea that was extraordinary.

Was servants meant for that purpose too?

Shirasaki thought in her mind. After all, servants could mean butlers as well.

Her eyes turned back to look at the clock at the wall before her. It was already eight. She had to go for her job within an hour's time.

'Oh shit,' she cursed loudly in her room. Grabbing her bag, she walked out hurriedly of her own room. Archer was looking at her again.

'Thanks for the tea anyway,' she stopped to speak to him. 'But I need to go for my part-time job now.'

And within moments, she had opened the main entrance door and closed it behind her.

The apartment was filled with a sudden silence despite the white-haired servant being seated by the main table.

'Seriously, this is the first time someone avoided drinking the tea.'

He muttered to himself.

His eyes were fixated onto the teacup.

The tea was just getting cold.

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The sun shone even more brightly onto the city as the clock struck nine. It was not the most impressive building in Central Setagaya but it was definitely decent enough for customers to patronise it.

On the ground floor, there was the glass doors which welcomed anyone to this DVD rental shop.

She was finally here for her job.

Shirasaki worked as a DVD rental retail assistant. The pay was good and it was enough to cover her daily expenses too.

In the backroom of the shop, she put on a green apron which was simply out of hygiene and appearance for the shop.

The job was only a part-time, which meant that she would be done by the late afternoon. Nevertheless, she enjoyed having such a job.

Closing her locker, she heaved another sigh. At least there was no sign of Archer following her here.

Being back in this shop made her feel as though she was back to the normal world.

Emerging out from the staff room, she walked down the corridor to open the door to the main shop. Racks of DVD welcomed her as she located her way towards the counter.

She stopped short of a few metres before the counter.

There was an unfamiliar person there.

Not that it was uncommon to have different staff doing shift work, but the person at the counter was definitely new.

It was a girl who looked no more older than twenty.

It must be a senior high school student, as what Shirasaki thought.

'Ah, Shirasaki-san.'

She turned behind to see a jovial-looking plump man, bespectacled with black frames resting on his eyes.

'Good morning, Tenchou-san,' she bowed before him, addressing him as the shop owner. She did not really know his name but she had always called him as Tenchou, which meant shop owner.

'I guess it must be your first time seeing her,' his eyes turned to look at the teenage girl standing before the counter.

'I see,' Shirasaki gave a forced smile to her superior.

The girl now looked at their direction, giving a small smile.

The shop owner moved over to the counter, bringing Shirasaki with him to face the new employee.

'Shirasaki-san,' he continued. 'I want you to meet Kishiwada-san.'

'Shirasaki-senpai,' the girl gave a small bow. 'Pleased to meet you.'

'Ah, no,' the brown-haired girl responded and bowed in return. 'Pleased to meet you too, Kishiwada-san.'

Shirasaki regained her posture to face Kishiwada's visage. She was definitely a beautiful girl, coupled with ruby hair and green eyes.

Nevertheless, this junior was going to be with her for some time, as she felt.

'That would be 6000 yen,' Shirasaki related the price of the DVD to the customer before her. The DVD rental shop offered renting and purchase as well. At some times, it was normal for some customers to purchase DVDs instead.

'6000 yen received,' she responded politely as she received the cash within her hands. Slotting the notes into the cash register, it automatically emerged with the change.

Kishiwada quickly slotted the DVD into a paper bag and sealed it with a scotch tape.

'Thank you for your patronage,' she replied with a smile, handing over the bag to the customer. And the customer was off with his newly-acquired product.

'You do learn fast, don't you?'

Shirasaki looked at her junior.

Kishiwada was rather skilled at this retail job. She had managed to emulate perfectly of all the essential for being a cashier especially, within a few hours.

'It's nothing,' she answered. 'Senpai is still much more experienced, after all.'

'Excuse me.'

Shirasaki heard a voice coming from in front of the counter. It was a boy her age, with blue-black hair.

'Can I help you?'

'I need some help at that rack,' he answered, pointing to a number on the surface of the counter. A map had been pasted onto the surface of the counter for easier referencing.

'Understood, Sir,' Shirasaki responded in politeness. She got out of the counter space, raising her palm in the direction of the rack. 'This way, Sir.'

'Senpai!' Kishiwada called out to the bespectacled girl who turned behind.

'Handle the cash register,' she answered back. 'I'm sure you can.'

The ruby-haired girl could only looked at her senior with the customer heading away.

Before long, Shirasaki had arrived at a rack with the customer. There was a strange feeling about him but it was probably her imagination.

He pointed up to the highest shelf.

Shirasaki took a nearby wooden ladder, climbing it up to reach the rack. Using the reference number he had given her on a piece of paper, she plucked the DVD from its shelf.

'Fuyuki.'

She muttered softly at the title of the DVD, coupled with the plain black colour of its front cover.

Why on earth would a customer want such a weird title?

It was probably just her plain suspicions. Knowing that she was still working, she got down to the bottom of the ladder and handed the customer his item.

Fuyuki city.

It seemed like the name of somewhere which was mentioned by Professor Moriyama. It must have been a strange place. The words that the Professor had mentioned the previous night could only be half-believed by Shirasaki.

A reminder hit her mind.

She had to see the Professor later in the afternoon.

She realised that the customer was still around.

'Fuyuki.'

The customer broke the silence suddenly.

'It's an interesting name, isn't it?'

'I should think so.'

Shirasaki was reminded by the ethic that she should not communicate too much with the customers. There were some weird customers who would rent the strange DVD titles and ask strange questions.

'It's a far place from here, actually.'

Shirasaki turned to the customer and bowed before him.

'I believe I have helped you search for the item. I'll return to my place.'

She turned behind, proceeding back to where Kishiwada was.

'Fuyuki City...' he whispered softly but audible enough for it to reach the spectacled girl's ears. 'The holy ground for the Holy Grail...'

There was a touch of sinister in his tone. She stopped moving.

She could hear the customer's footsteps pacing towards her. He walked past her, stopping a few steps in front of her.

Without turning back, he muttered under his breath.

'That place is waiting for someone...'

And he quickly walked away to the counter.

Shirasaki could only look at him. This customer was yet another weird one like the rest she had encountered before in her two year part-time job.

But he was a weird one that stood among the strange customers.

No, perhaps he was just trying to warn something.

Returning to her senses, she turned back to respond to yet another customer, who was normal, enquiring about some other DVD titles.

At least the ambience was back to normal for her.

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The sun shone brightly in the mid-afternoon.

It also managed to shine brightly on the shabby abandoned Tenraku Temple.

The wind was cold, blowing through the black clothes of a white-haired man standing before it.

Archer had sensed a certain abnormality occurring despite it being day-time.

And this abnormality was coming from the temple.

Perhaps he could find that strange little girl whom his master had encountered the night before.

Through his dark eyes, he could see nothing abnormal at the surface level.

But there was an abnormal level of mana being concentrated in the broken down building.

'I see someone has come to visit.'

He heard a voice from behind.

Already knowing who that person really was, Archer did not see the need to turn back.

'So you're the one behind this?'

'It may seem so,' there was a naughty tone in the person's voice. 'Or it may not seem so.'

Archer tucked both hands in his pockets, closing his eyes for a moment.

'So you're trying to get the power of the Holy Grail?'

'I see you've regained some of your fragmented memories, Archer.'

The voice responded to Archer's query.

'I see too that you have a new master again, and it is an ignorant female.'

'That has nothing to do with what you're doing.'

'She will just be a trouble to what we are doing.'

'There's a reason why she's a master.'

'It's such a pity that she has such short hair. All she needs is just two ponytails.'

At that moment, Archer's eyes opened. As soon as he did so, the presence behind him was gone.

He looked up at the ruined Tenraku temple, and produced a smirk on his face.

'Two ponytails, eh?'

Turning behind, he walked on the asphalt road leading back to the apartment, slowly melting into the environment.

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Shirasaki looked at the clock hanging from the wall behind the counter. It was almost four o'clock and time for her to stop work.

Kishiwada had been working non-stop at the cash register. There was a certain air of diligence around the ruby-haired girl.

'Yahoo!'

The spectacled girl turned up to look at the familiar voice.

It was yet the ponytailed girl who was also her friend. And energetic as ever too.

'I have no money to treat you,' Shirasaki answered, pretending to be ignorant of her.

'That's not fair,' Yui retorted back. She was dressed in a sweater with jeans with a thick scarf wrapped around her neck. As Shirasaki had noted before, her friend had class today.

Yui put her hands on her hips.

'Anyway, I'm here to pick you up,' she responded. 'Professor Moriyama wanted to see you anyway.'

'That doesn't mean you can waste your energy coming here.'

'Hey!' Yui replied back in a seemingly angry tone. 'I came after all!'

The laughs of yet another girl could be heard, causing both girls to become silent. Both of them looked at Kishiwada laughing.

'Now that's funny,' she giggled. She looked at Shirasaki.

'Senpai, it's okay with me just around,' she continued. 'You should go with her.'

'But, Tenchou-san will...'

'It's alright,' a smile was drawn across her face. 'I'll tell him.'

'Thank you,' Shirasaki answered with a soft smile.

'That's some great colleague you have,' Yui interrupted, now looking at Kishiwada. 'Someday I'll treat you to some lunch!'

'As if you would.'

Shirasaki could only roll her eyes as she walked out of the counter to enter the staff-only area.

It wasn't long before she was done with changing. The job was over and now she had to proceed to the university to see Professor Moriyama.

As Yui and Shirasaki walked out of the shop, Kishiwada waved at the both of them, giving a seemingly innocent smile at them.

'Shirasaki Miyuki...'

She muttered softly too.

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'What?!'

Yui exclaimed loudly in the corridor just outside Professor Moriyama's office.

'What do you mean I can't eavesdrop?'

Shirasaki gave a bored look at her friend. Apparently, Yui had chosen to use the wrong words at the wrong time. Professor Moriyama stood by the office entrance, with a cigarette stuck between her lips.

'This is something not really important to you.'

The professor replied nicely.

'Besides,' she re-entered her office and emerged from it again, opening a file in her hand. Flipping page by page, she settled on one, looking at it carefully. 'Yui-san, how many assignments do you owe me?'

Yui's face turned a little pale.

'I...I...' she stammered, being guilty knowing what she had done. 'I'll get it done!'

And soon she was gone, rushing down the university corridor. The professor was lenient at times but when she started asking how many assignments there was to be owed, it meant that these pieces of work would get a nought if not completed by the following day.

It was truly a good way to spur on students, as what Shirasaki thought.

'Professor...'

'Come in.'

The professor replied, re-entering the office.

Shirasaki entered the office, having an entire different environment facing her. The room was filled with thick, dusty books with a simple rotating ceiling fan blowing away some of the dust.

It was strange in an era to have a ceiling fan.

Perhaps Professor Moriyama was another retro-era enthusiast. That was what Shirasaki thought.

'Close the door after you enter.'

'Understood!' Shirasaki immediately went to close the wooden office door. Even the office door of the Professor was in a retro-era. Modern offices would employ the automatic door instead.

As she turned behind to look at the smoking professor, she could see her digging into the piles of books. It was as if she was searching for something important.

'I see that Archer didn't come along.'

The professor questioned as she continued her searching.

Shirasaki remained silent.

'It's going to get dangerous from now.'

The professor chuckled, finally pulling out something which Shirasaki could not see clearly.

The spectacled student did not understand what the professor was talking about.

'Since you are the seventh master to emerge with your servant Archer, there is a high possibility for the Holy Grail War to start.'

'The...seventh master...?'

Of all things, why was it the seventh?

In the professor's hands was a crumpled old book in her hands.

Slowly, she walked towards Shirasaki who took a step back away. The air was filled with suspense.

'Since you are the master of Archer,' she handed the tattered book into her student's hands. 'This might help.'

The book had a felt cover with bits of yellowish paper sticking out of it. It must have been centuries ago that this piece of antique had been created.

There was a silence in the air, except for the rotating engine for the ceiling fan spinning above.

'What...is this?'

She looked carefully at the item in her hands.

'I don't have a clue about it,' the professor replaced her cigarette with a new one. 'It could be a compilation of magical spells related to the Tohsaka line of sorcerers.'

'Magic?'

Magic was totally fictitious in the mind of Shirasaki. The professor was weird too. For her to be teaching a science-related subject, it was too strange for her to talk about magic, which was definitely opposite to science.

'That's right,' Moriyama returned to her desk, resting on the large chair facing it. 'There are only 5 lines of sorcerers in the world.'

'There are two lines of them in Japan,' she continued. 'Aozaki and Tohsaka. But the Tohsaka line has already died out in the sixth summoning of Heaven's Feel.'

'Tohsaka Rin?'

'That's correct,' she turned to look at Shirasaki. 'The line died out with her disappearance. It was as if she completely vanished upon sealing the Holy Grail.'

Shirasaki now turned to look down at the book in her very hands. Slowly opening the hardcover, it contained ink-written writings on the decayed paper.

'Why are you giving me this...?'

'Tohsaka Rin was the master of an Archer class servant too back in the fifth war.'

'That means....'

Her voice trailed off only to be interrupted by the professor clearing her throat.

'Being in the same class does not mean that that servant is the same,' she rebutted. 'That Archer currently with you may not be the Archer whom she summoned back then.'

'I see.'

'That book might assist you on ways to assist your servant in case the war breaks out.'

'But I don't possess any magic.'

'You do. If you had managed to summon your servant, it does mean that you do have a mage circuit within your body. It's just that you had not activated it yet.'

'A mage circuit?'

'It's the system within your body that stores the mana and enables you to cast magic.'

The professor took out her cigarette, pushing it down onto the nearby ashtray to extinguish its glow.

She closed her eyes, as if she was concentrating on something.

Raising her hand, there was a sudden windy force through the room which made the fan at the ceiling spin faster.

Shirasaki's eyes widened. The scene before her was like a miracle.

The windy force died down as the professor reopened her eyes.

'This is magic.'

Her student crept against the wall. Somehow, the professor was helpful yet destructive in her mind. This was serious business. She could choose not to believe in it but it could not be helped.

'Our talk is ended here,' the professor turned to look at the windows which were emanating an orange glow from the evening sky. 'Take the book and think over your strategy.'

'My strategy?'

'The situation may get worser from now,' she answered without turning behind. 'You may never know if you may even be killed tonight on your way back.'

'Killed...?' Gruesome thoughts raced through Shirasaki's mind.

'Be careful now,' the professor warned again as the spectacled girl was about to leave the office. 'The Holy Grail may emerge anywhere. Even in Tokyo.'

Shirasaki closed the office door behind her and bowed before it in respect for leaving. She quickly turned, walking down the quiet, echoing corridor.

'I see the professor told you everything,' she heard a voice as she was walking down the corridor to exit the building.

She turned her face to look at someone a distance away from her.

He was wearing spectacles. That same woollen vest he wore.

'It's you.'

'Yes it's me,' he adjusted his spectacles, not looking directly at her. 'I'll be expecting some action from you then.'

'What? You were watching me?'

'I may or may not,' he responded. 'You're interesting.'

And he walked away from her, disappearing into the next doorway.

Shirasaki could only look at the enigmatic boy's figure melting into the surroundings.

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Nightfall came.

Another night in Setagaya but it was rather cold as usual.

The antique book was heavy for Shirasaki as she dragged herself along the road towards her apartment.

It was rather noisy, especially when the air was colder.

Stopping before her apartment, she took a deep breath, slowly labouring herself up the stairway. The corridor was dimly lit, as usual.

At eight, many people had already gone to bed. The many cases in Setagaya was causing several residents to push up their sleeping time earlier.

Most of the units were pitch black, except for the one next to her unit.

The door swung open, with a lady emerging. It was her middle-aged neighbour who frequently frowned on many things in the apartment.

'Evening Mrs Hatena,' she responded in respect.

Even if she didn't do so, it was trouble nevertheless.

'I see you have a boyfriend,' her neighbour sneered back. She was dressed in her evening wear with her hair tied up in a bun. 'You can't rear boys here.'

'And you can't rear your man here then,' Shirasaki replied sarcastically, out of frustration.

It didn't occur to her once before that whether a Mr Hatena had existed. She had never seen her neighbour with her husband before.

'You brat!' Mrs Hatena glared angrily at her neighbour. 'Of course my husband is legally married to me so he can stay with me.'

'Is there a problem here?'

A looming figure emerged from behind the two of them squabbling.

A man had appeared to have shut the two women into silence.

'You're...' Mrs Hatena looked suddenly at the man. '...Shirasagi's boyfriend!'

'Hey!'

Shirasaki screeched out in anger.

'That doesn't matter who I am,' he replied coldly. 'You're disturbing the peace.'

'Me disturbing the peace?' The middle-aged lady replied in self-created shock. 'I'm going to report you to the landlord.'

And she went back into the room, probably to get out her handphone as what Shirasaki presumed.

'Archer! Hurry! Into the apartment!'

And Shirasaki grabbed her servant by the arm, bolting into her own apartment unit and shutting the entrance door behind her.

In the wake of this lunge, there was only yet the losing cries of the ever troublesome Mrs Hatena.

'Next time...' she panted, looking up at her ever calm servant. 'Don't...appear...before...her.'

'Understood.'

It was yet another night of drama.

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A salaryman walked along the dark pavement between the various houses.

He cursed himself for walking along such a place at such a time.

The lamplights were flickering again. It was the nearby ruined Tenraku temple, presumed haunted by the residents staying around the vicinity.

The man in his forties could feel footsteps approaching in his direction in front of him.

At a nearby lamp post, the light flickered on and off, revealing the image of a young adult man bearing a smile on his face.

'I have been awaiting you.'

The man smiled as he faced the shivering salaryman who had already been rooted to the ground.

He stepped forward before his prey.

There was only a sinister yet mysterious grin.

_La la la la la la..._

Shirasaki opened her eyes to see the ceiling in the darkness.

No doubt, she could hear the familiar sounds she had heard the night before.

It was the strange little girl called Hazuki.

Or probably.

She got up, seemingly entranced by the lullaby of that girl.

There was no time to change. She was still in her pyjamas. Wearing her slippers, she slowly walked towards the entrance door, only to be pulled back by a force.

An arm was holding on to her.

'Where are you going, Miyuki-san?'

The cold tone clearly identified that of Archer.

'That voice,' she spoke. 'Someone will be killed again.'

'You're in no condition to go out without a single knowledge of your own magic.'

He folded his arms.

'It can't be helped then,' he reopened his eyes, looking at her with an intent intense enough to make Shirasaki's eyes widen. 'People die when they are killed.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'It's time to destroy that magic abnormality,' he grinned. 'Miss Hero of Justice.'

Shirasaki nodded, opening the entrance door to see a strange red glow in the distance.

With both arms, Archer carried her up in his arms, leaping off into the air.

_La la la la la la..._

It was time for battle.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	5. Battle

_The cold wind blew through me._

_It seemed to welcome my presence before a night scenery of Setagaya Town._

_There was a magic abnormality present._

_It could or could not be part of the Holy Grail._

_Only I could sense it._

_For I was related to it._

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR: BATTLE**

_La la la la la la..._

The sweet lullaby was heard most clearly in a small park near to Tenraku Temple.

The grass was brownish from the winter season. That was for a certain portion of it only.

The other portion of it was stained crimson.

The stain was thanks to a certain body lying on the grass, staining it red.

A soft wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the trees nearby.

_La la la la..._

Nearby the site, a soft landing hit the ground with a thud.

It was the sound of two people.

A master and her servant had arrived on the scene.

The master followed her servant, who sensed out the intense smell of blood floating in the air. It was sickeningly strong that anyone could smell it.

It was not long before they stood before the body.

The shadow cast by a nearby lamplight hid their faces.

'So how many cases has it been?' The master questioned rhetorically.

'The fifth,' the servant spoke under his breath.

The master gave a slight chuckle.

'So there are eight more to go, eh?'

_La la la la la..._

There was yet again the repeating of the lullaby.

Out of the darkness from afar, a figure emerged from it, carrying a short knife in its hand. The same smell of blood emanated from this dark figure too.

'I see the culprit is here, master.'

The servant responded in a haughty voice.

'You should know our purpose here,' the master answered sharply.

The figure was soon shone on by the lamplight, revealing herself to be a dark-haired girl, clad in a simple white dress.

Her eyes were the colour of amber.

She raised the blood-stained blade of her knife to her mouth, licking the edge of it.

'So Onee-chan and Onii-chan has come to play with Hazuki?'

The master walked forward, revealing her face before the girl.

Hazuki's expression changed, twisting her mouth into an irritated shape. She brandished her knife before herself.

'You are not Onee-chan,' she pointed out at the master. 'Onee-chan has spectacles.'

'I see,' the other person concluded, continuing to look at the girl. 'That's too bad then. You will have to play with us even if we have slice each other's flesh off.'

She raised her hand, flicking her fingers to give a gesture to the shadow behind her who was her servant.

'You're on,' she folded her arms, opening her orange eyes. 'Assassin.'

'Yes, master.'

The servant took out his sword, hidden beneath his robes.

Approaching Hazuki, he drew the blade before her eyes.

He produced a smile on his face.

'Nice to meet you, Hazuki.'

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A servant clad in red and his master landed on the hard semi-frozen ground in a park clearing.

There was no sign of activity around.

There was a musky smell of something floating in the air around.

It was an intense smell of blood.

There was no lamplight nearby, rendering the entire area rather dark.

Shirasaki looked all around, seeing nothing.

The only person she could see clearly was definitely Archer.

After all he had white hair which made it easier to see in the dark.

'Miyuki-san,' he spoke suddenly. 'There is a sinister force around.'

He turned his face towards her.

'Apparently, the person who was supposed to be killed has been killed.'

_La la la la la..._

The lullaby continued, causing Shirasaki to turn in the direction of its source.

There were soft footsteps approaching her.

She could see a small figure donning a white dress.

It had to be that Hazuki-chan.

And as expected, the strong smell of blood was coming from her.

She approached slowly, stopping a few metres before the two visitors to her playground.

'So Onee-chan and Onii-chan has come to play with Hazuki?'

'Hazuki-chan!' Shirasaki called out to the girl. 'Don't do this anymore! This is wrong!'

'Did Onee-chan come to see my piece of work?' She replied with glee. Hazuki brought the blade of her knife before her, slowly sliding her finger across the surface, clearing shed blood off.

Archer moved in front of the spectacled girl.

'Things will get dangerous,' he turned his gaze back to her and in front again. 'Stand back.'

A flash of light formed in Archer's hand, forming into the image of a bow.

He raised the bow at Hazuki, aiming his glowing arrow before her.

'This is...'

'...what you call an Archer class,' he responded to Shirasaki.

The white haired man turned his focus back to Hazuki.

He pulled back his arm to increase the tension to prepare releasing the arrow.

'Onii-chan is bad,' Hazuki stood motionless before Archer.

'That's not for you to say,' Archer answered as he released the glowing arrow, shooting it at full speed at her.

The arrow hit its target, creating a momentary flash of light.

The light illuminated the area slightly for a while.

This illumination horrified Shirasaki as she looked at the surroundings.

On each tree surrounding the clearing, there was a corpse hanging from it, with a giant yin-yang symbol carved into it.

There had to be some purpose to this, as Shirasaki thought.

Archer raised down his bow, looking at his target.

The light subsided, revealing Hazuki standing there motionlessly.

She was now even emotionless.

Her short knife had blocked the incoming arrow, causing it to dissipate into energy on impact with her weapon.

This time, there was now a dark shadow behind Hazuki.

The shadowy figure moved in front of her, protecting her as how Archer was now doing to the girl with glasses.

A strong aura hit Shirasaki, putting a little pressure on her.

Her memories told her that some people had pressurising auras on her before, but this one was much more powerful.

It was on a level she had not experienced before.

The shadowy figure chuckled, revealing itself to be a young man.

There was a familiar sense of this person.

Blue-black hair.

She was rooted to the ground but she could still talk.

'You...' she questioned in a surprised tone. 'You're the customer from the afternoon.'

The man smirked, closing his eyes for a moment.

'You're quite observant,' he responded. 'Shirasaki-san.'

This person was way too suspicious.

'How did you know my name?'

'It was written on your name tag,' he was irritated with her dumb question.

'Right...'

The blue-black hair boy turned up to look at the spectacled girl.

'My suspicions were right,' he sneered. 'You're indeed a master.'

'That wasn't decided by me,' she defended.

'Your magical circuit was far too obvious,' he looked at her continuously. 'Anyone with a magical circuit could sense it out.'

Archer raised his bow, generating another energy arrow, aiming it at the young man. He pulled it back, releasing it forward, aiming full speed at the two.

The blue-black headed man shook his head, stretching his hand in the direction of the arrow. A barrier, with the facade of a yin-yang symbol, formed from his hand.

The arrow hit the barrier, dissipating into energy again.

It did not even hit him or Hazuki.

'Now that is rash,' he replied. 'I believe you came for Hazuki-chan.'

Hazuki stepped forward, tightly gripping on the knife.

One of her amber eyes glowed intensely.

'But I guess we are no longer neutral.'

His lips twisted into a smile.

Archer regenerated a new arrow in his hand, placing to his bow and released another shot. The flashing arrow was released, shooting full speed at them again.

A bright flash occurred, only to have the two still remaining with the same barrier.

Hazuki raised her knife, and cut the air infront of her.

A tree next to Archer split in the middle spontaneously, almost falling on him. He quickly dodged the falling tree.

His dark eyes turned back to look at what Hazuki had done.

'Those eyes,' he lowered his bow. 'I have seen that power before.'

'That's for sure,' the man placed his hand on the little girl's shoulder. 'For a heroic spirit with much experience, this should be nothing for you.'

Archer closed his eyes momentarily.

'That power is immune to servants,' he answered.

'It's not for the masters.'

He opened his eyes, realising that Shirasaki was not next to him.

Hazuki turned her direction to the bespectacled master, cutting midair again.

Another tree trunk split apart, falling in the direction of the brown-haired girl.

In a swift moment, the red-clad servant sprinted off, taking his master away by the hand. The tree came crashing down just after Shirasaki was grabbed by her servant.

'What did she just do?' She questioned softly.

'She is able to destroy anything that is real,' he responded.

'Then why are servants immune to it?'

'Because servants are spirits.'

He looked at her for a second before looking back at Hazuki who was preparing to cut the knife midair again.

The last sentence spoken by Archer seemed nonsensical to Shirasaki. He was right before her, breathing and real. It was impossible to imagine him as a spirit.

'The battle comes first,' he reminded the spectacled girl. He raised his bow, shooting another futile arrow at the duo.

Hazuki cut midair with her knife again, causing another tree to split apart but not before Archer made his dodge again.

'Archer!'

She was about to make her move when she felt herself freeze.

Her body was not listening to her.

Somehow, the night had become a little brighter. She looked up at the night sky, seeing a disc the design of a yin-yang fixated onto it.

The white portion of it emanated light, which was causing a slightly faint shadow to be cast on Shirasaki's body. As her eyes traced her shadow, it led up to overlapping with that of the other person.

No doubt, there was something to do with their overlapping shadows, as she thought.

Her human opponent was probably freezing her body through that shadow.

'How is that Onmyou Tsuki spell on you?'

She heard soft whispers reaching her ear from that man.

'The shadow...' she felt herself being slowly pushed down. There was an invisible pressure pushing down on her body. Her knees were being forced to bend.

If she did not do something soon, her body would be pushed down until it was an unnatural state.

'That's right, I'm manipulating the shadows,' he responded.

She tried to push herself up but with little success.

'You don't have any resistance spell at all,' he sneered. 'To think you could be a master.'

She ignored him. Her only concern now was to push herself up to resist this force.

A flashing arrow hit the man, smoldering him with a bright light. For the moment, the invisible force was gone.

He must have lost his concentration, as what Shirasaki thought.

She turned her head to look at Archer who had fired the agile shot. Soon enough, her eyes caught Hazuki cutting another point in midair, causing yet another tree to fall off.

The tree was nearby, causing one of the branches to directly head for Shirasaki. She could only stare, shocked at what was heading for her.

The only thing she could do now was close her eyes to await her final predicament.

_Don't admit defeat now._

A sudden voice rang in her head.

She reopened her eyes. There was no one talking to her.

In front of her, she could only see the tip of the branch a few centimetres before her eyes.

It was strange that the branch had stopped before her. There was a red liquid slowly emerging from the edges of the branch.

Blood.

It was fresh blood.

She got to her senses, looking up. It was the same familiar white-haired servant before her.

'Archer!'

At the cost of his own materialised body, Archer had blocked the attack, causing the branch to impale through his chest.

He turned his face back to her.

'Servants don't die this easy,' he stood straight up, slowly pulling out the branch.

She cupped her mouth as she saw the huge wound the branch had did. Blood dripped from his body just like how a raindrop did.

'There's no time to be shocked,' he snapped. 'As long as the master is alive, the servant will fight.'

The bow in his hand vanished, only to be replaced by twin swords. The swords were rather unique by their curved shape.

There was a cry of laughter from the shadow-controlling man.

'An Archer with swords?' He was still laughing away. 'Don't insult me. An Archer can't fight with swords.'

'Archer.'

Shirasaki frowned, giving a solemn look at her servant.

'I'm sure you can fight with swords.'

The dark-skinned man closed his eyes, smirking before looking back at the spectacled girl.

'Someone told me that before,' he answered back. 'A former master.'

'Then I won't lose to your former master,' she clenched her fists. 'Just take him out.'

'Understood.'

The girl with one glowing eye cut through in their direction, causing the tree behind them to split. Archer moved forward rapidly, beginning to engage in melee combat.

_Use your will._

Shirasaki looked at the bursting tree. Its pieces went out in all directions like a bomb.

A voice was resonating in her mind like the pulse of a heart.

She could feel something electric moving through her.

It was there was a current within her.

That was possible since humans had nerve impulses which were electrical in nature. But this current was different.

It was strong enough to be felt.

'Mage circuit.'

The voice of Professor Moriyama sounded within her mind.

This mysterious current could be that mage circuit she had talked about before.

Several tree branches were headed in her directions like a guided missile. She closed her eyes, concentrating and wishing for the branches to detour.

Shirasaki concentrated harder, focusing on the current within her body which was getting stronger.

'I reject!'

With an invisible force, the branches seemed to hit something before falling flat on the ground. She opened her eyes to see that she was safe.

However, the current within had dissipated.

It must have been this power which was so-called magic.

'I'm sorry about being late.'

Shirasaki turned her head to the woodlands. A dark figure emerge, only to reveal her signature cigarette inserted between her lips.

'Professor Moriyama?'

She placed her hands inside her pockets, before looking at the night sky which was still illuminated by the spell of the Onmyou Tsuki spell.

Whispering a few words Shirasaki could not comprehend, the seemingly fake moon faded into nothingness.

'That was...'

'...just a cheap trick,' she took out her cigarette, blowing out a puff of smoke. She turned her gaze towards the man with the blue-black hair.

'I see you're here to make some trouble,' she starred at him with a solemn expression. 'Shadow ninjutsu cannot be considered real magic after all.'

The man was a little unsettled in his expression. A mere woman could suddenly dispel all of the spells he had prepared to defeat Shirasaki and her servant.

The battle between Hazuki and Archer was not over. He was still engaged in combat with her. Each time he tried to swing his sword to get her, she would jump a step back, cutting through mid-air to split something up into an explosion.

It was definitely a losing battle for Hazuki. Through that glowing eye, she could not see the lines attached to the servant. The only way she could do was to destroy things around him to make him receive fatal injuries in order to dematerialise.

A certain feeling overcame Hazuki suddenly. In a flash, she jumped back to near where Shirasaki was formerly at.

Archer sprinted after her, arriving back to where Shirasaki was former at.

There was no sign of his former master.

Hazuki stood there before turning back to face him.

In her hands, there was a piece of paper in the shape of a human. The words written on it were familiar.

A realisation struck him.

That hooded person he had met a night before. Those were the same wording on it.

Hazuki's glowing eye faded, rendering her back to normal.

Her mouth shifted into a smile.

'Onee-chan has already left,' she replied enthusiastically. 'Hazuki is going to Tenraku Temple to play!'

She skipped happily, melting into the darkness swiftly.

Archer was left alone in the clearing.

He had finally seen through the ploy. The main goal was not to kill Shirasaki, but to simply lure him away so that they could take his master away.

'You're naïve as usual.'

A voice from behind caused him to turn around.

It was the same hooded person standing before him.

He dematerialised his swords, turning it into a bow, aiming it at the person before him.

'You have something to do with this,' he materialised an arrow to aim at the figure. 'Especially that shikigami.'

The figure stood motionless before him, unfazed by his weapon.

'Are you the mastermind behind this?' He increased the intensity of the weapon.

The hooded person gave a chuckle.

'You're naïve as usual even as a servant again,' the person replied. 'Your main priority is your master yet you are still here.'

Archer could sense a smile being worn inside the hood.

'Heroic Spirit Emiya.'

He lowered his bow a little. Frowning again, he raised it again.

'Who are you?'

The hooded person turned around, slowly walking back into the pitch black woodland.

'I'm asking you a question.'

'I'm expecting great things from you,' the figure replied without turning back. 'Don't disappoint me, Emiya.'

And soon without realisation, the figure melted into the darkness.

Dematerialising the bow, Archer looked up at the dark nightsky.

The temple mentioned by Hazuki was the only place he could go to get his master back.

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There was sheer coldness surrounding Shirasaki's body. She began to shiver.

She woke up to see herself in darkness.

The floor was hard and consisted of planks. And dusty too.

She got up from her lying position to see herself in a large hall with broken paper walls that allowed the cold air to enter in.

There was a bad aura about this place.

No doubt, this was the infamous and abandoned Tenraku temple.

She recovered her standing, determined to know what was going on with the temple.

The brown-haired girl crept slowly across the hall, slowly stepping on the floor. It was useless to be discreet since each step she made created an audible sound from the wooden floor.

She was about to reach the side of the broken paper wall.

'You're going somewhere, I see,' she heard a voice to her side.

Turning her head, she saw the same man before her. He must have taken her away. Her mind was in a state of confusion on how she had been taken away by him.

And Professor Moriyama was nowhere to be seen too.

'Looking for that woman?'

She remained silent.

'That was a trick,' he looked back at her without hesitation. 'Just a shikigami.'

'A trick...?'

She was bewildered. How could the Professor be a trick?

'Opponents are tricky these days,' he continued. 'To think the enemy will send a shikigami just to defend themselves.'

He grabbed Shirasaki by the end tightly.

She tried to push his hand away but without much strength.

'You're coming with us,' he grinned.

She felt a sudden presence behind her.

It was that of a small kid.

Hazuki.

'If you are uncooperative,' he looked at her. 'It's troublesome for us to bring you to our master in pieces.'

Hazuki made a cutting sound in midair, causing the nearby paper wall to break into several pieces.

Shirasaki slightly nodded, being pulled by the man as a gesture to start moving.

'I don't think it would be her who will be in pieces.'

She heard a familiar voice at the other side of the hall.

The visible white hair of her servant could be seen. There was a bright arrow-like apparition in his hand with a bow in the other.

'Hazuki,' the man signalled to her.

'Understood,' she replied in solemn tone looking up to reveal her glowing eye.

He continued pulling at Shirasaki's arm, making her to follow her further.

Archer jumped off, preparing to ambush on the man. At that moment, a wooden beam broken down, raining its splinters on the servant.

He dodged it, looking at where Hazuki had suddenly cut in midair.

'You have to get through me first.'

He smirked, aiming his bow at her. The arrow was ready to go.

'That dagger,' he broke the pressure of the moment before the fight. 'It smells of blood though it is clean.'

Hazuki did no respond. As expected, she did not talk when her right eye was glowing. She raised her dagger, preparing to attack next.

'...It smells of the blood of people around you then.'

He continued, changing his tone from cold to a sly, cunning one.

Hazuki stood there for a moment, suddenly lowering her dagger. Her glowing began to lose its illumination, slowly reverting back to normal.

Archer released his flashing arrow, quickly rushing towards her. As the arrow quickly made its way through, its flash diminished slowly revealing itself to be a black sword.

Hazuki stared at the arrow-turned-sword heading in her direction. She was stuck to the ground, her feet refusing to obey her.

A sudden barrier in the design of an yin-yang symbol materialised before the girl in the white dress, preventing the arrow Hrunting from reaching her body.

The tip of the sword pierced through the barrier, slowly pushing itself through.

In no time, it would soon penetrate the barrier and sear through the girl's body.

'Begone.'

A disembodied voice sounded through the dark hall. At that command, the barrier with Hrunting in the middle piercing it, shrank rapidly absorbing the weapon as like a black hole. Within moments, the entire barrier was gone, along with the weapon.

Archer looked disbelievingly at the spell before returning to his calm composure.

Hazuki fell back down on the ground, her knees shaking.

A sudden glowing glyph similar to that of the shield formed on the wooden floor, surrounding the little girl.

'It's your win this time, Heroic Spirit,' the voice sounded through the hall.

'Hazuki is not done with Onii-chan!' She shrieked as she tried to stand up only to fall back again.

'You'll see us again,' the voice continued. And the glyph closed in on the girl, causing a bright flash. Both the glyph and the girl was gone.

Archer lowered his bow.

'The Onmyou.' He muttered under his breath.

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Out in the ruined temple courtyard, Shirasaki continued to struggle as the man relentless pulled her by the arm.

He seemed to be pulling her towards the giant torii gate which had began to slowly glow red.

'I said let go!'

She shrieked at him to no avail.

He continued to pull her with much strength towards the gate.

As they were within steps of the gate, another magical presence was felt by the spectacled girl.

She turned her head up to look at the gate.

There was a certain someone on the top of it.

The man stopped too, noticing that there was an intruder on the top.

The person jumped down from the gate, unscathed by such a height upon landing.

As the person regained posture, it was revealed to be a woman. Her hair was short, yet bright as gold.

The most interesting thing was that she was wearing like someone who stayed in ancient times. In fact, she was wearing a Greek tunic.

Her skin was milky white, contrasted with the dark hazel eyes.

'Who are you?' The man lessened his grip on Shirasaki's hand.

With another hand, he raised it, trying to control her shadow.

He tried to feel it but there was no shadow.

'You...Are not alive,' he took a step back.

'That's right,' she took one step towards him as he took a step back. 'But neither will you be soon.'

She quickly materialised three short knives in her right hand, quickly hurling them at him.

The movement was so quick that Shirasaki could only hear the sound of blood spurting out. She readjusted her focus to look at the man before her. He had totally let go of his grip.

As her eyes fixated on him, she knew why as he fell back onto the ground.

One knive had penetrated his neck, another to his forehead, and another to whether his heart was.

It was three impossibly accurate shots.

She screamed at the grotesque sight.

'My my,' the lady put her hands on her hips. 'This is a boring task.'

Shirasaki fell onto her knees, shocked at another sight of death.

The other lady sighed.

'Some people just know how to exaggerate the scene,' she responded sarcastically, looking at the girl in shock.

Shirasaki was cupping her mouth. She looked at the woman in a tunic.

'That was just a job,' she replied in a nonchalant tone.

The girl stood up.

'You committed murder,' she responded in a cold tone. She ran towards the blonde lady only to have her run through.

The lady had turned into a translucent form.

'I have no time to play games with you,' she bellowed, closing her eyes for a moment, before materialising completely again. 'Anyway, the case for the serial murders is solved with this idiot dead.'

Shirasaki looked at her defiantly.

The other person gave a yawn.

'I guess you'd better get away before anyone finds out, miss.'

She jumped on to the top of the red gate.

'Hey! Where are you going?' Shirasaki shouted from below.

The other woman smiled from above.

A sudden flashing arrow hit the bottom of the gate, creating a bright flash. Shirasaki turned back.

It was Archer with a bow directly pointed at the gate.

'Get away from-' he paused, looking at who was above the gate.

The lady on top of the gate looked at him with a blank look before looking down at Shirasaki.

'So I see you have a servant after all,' she replied sly. 'I didn't expect that, miss.'

And she quickly dematerialised into spirit form.

As soon as she vanished, the gate started to lose its glow. Before long, there were sounds of wood cracking.

The bright flash had caused some damage to the ruined gate.

It was starting to topple down, directly onto where Shirasaki was on.

She turned around, quickly running away from it but she was too slow.

'Why does this have to happen to me?!' She shrieked before being pulled by the white-haired servant rapidly away from the fallen gate.

She turned back to look at the rubble that was once that glowing torii gate.

'It's too dangerous here,' Archer spoke out.

Before Shirasaki realised, it was rather chilly and she was only in her night clothes. She quickly walked away towards the surrounding abandoned houses.

'I'm going home.'

'Understood.'

And the tall red-cloaked servant followed the spectacled girl who was trying to cover herself with her arms from the cold.

From the top of the ruined temple, they were being watched. The chilly wind of winter blew through this figure's clothes.

The hooded figure gave a soft laugh.

'It's too early for the Wiedervereinigung yet.'

The voice under the hood muttered out.

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The master stood looking down on the grass.

She picked up a small broken piece of paper.

'Shikigami, eh?'

She smiled to herself.

Turning behind, there were just three Kanji characters written behind it.

'So this is what it is about.'

She tucked the small piece of paper into her pocket, turning to look at where her servant was.

The servant stared at the corpse hanging from the tree, with a yin-yang symbol etched into its flesh. Taking out his sword, he sliced through the line connected the corpse to the tree branch, causing it to fall onto the soft grass.

As the corpse fell down, it broke into three segmented pieces.

It was as if the corpse was made up of segments rather than originally connected together.

The assassin bent down looking at the corpse.

It was not a corpse, definitely as he thought.

As his hand touched the one segment which had the yin-yang symbol etched into the flesh, it glowed brightly in eerie green.

Another hand entered his sight, touching the symbol and effectively breaking it into pieces. He looked up to see his master doing that job.

The corpse slowly transformed into that of a white shapeless object.

'A doll I see.'

The master smirked.

She stood up, followed by her servant. She looked at the night sky only littered with stars but no moon.

'The game has started becoming dirty then,' she muttered out the words into the air softly.

'You're sly,' a boy told the person in the office.

The office was stagnated by much cigarette smoke.

A blonde hair lady took out her cigarette, puffing it out the smoke.

She turned behind.

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'I'm not being sly,' she replied to his comment. 'I'm just a neutral player.'

The boy folded his arms, turning up his head to look at her.

'That's still being sly, Professor Moriyama.'

He smiled, looking at her with his squarish glasses.

The ceiling fan continued to turn about as usual.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	6. Prelude

_The__re was a touch of dizziness in my head._

_I could hear faint voices but I could not see. I tried to move myself but only my fingers responded to the commands of my mind._

_As I moved my fingers, I felt the warmth return to my body. _

_Yes, I could feel the sensation of my body return._

_My eyelids were slowly responding to my commands again. I tried to open them, failing the first time because of the gravity pushing down on them._

_A voice sounded through my head. The multiple faint voices that I was hearing had merged into one faint but audible one._

_I opened my eyes slowly, allowing the light to enter them. _

_An image was formed._

_'You're awake.'_

_I could hear the sound of a young male voice. As my eyes opened wider, I could perceive the image of a boy wearing a T-shirt and pants. The dimension of my vision only allowed me to view his mouth, which was shaped into a slight smile._

_I nodded slightly. _

_A boy had suddenly saved me. _

_The sensation returned to my hands. I attempted to push myself up. _

_I felt the boy's hands slowly guide me towards the wall, propping my back against it. _

_'Do you need something?'_

_I remembered how dry my lips were. _

_'Water,' I replied weakly. _

_My eyes were now wide-open as soon as he had left the room and slided the door close. I lifted up hands, staring at the palms._

_There was something wrong with my palms. _

_They seemed to be smaller. _

_I pushed myself up, looking around the room for a mirror. The room had paper walls and it had a very traditional Japanese look._

_It was unlike my apartment which was small and Western-styled. _

_My eyes caught a mirror on the far end of the room._

_Another realisation struck my mind again. I wasn't wearing any spectacles. This was not possible. I could never have my myopia cured within a day. _

_I staggered slowly to the far side of the room, my legs feeling weak. _

_As I looked up slowly at the surface of the mirror, my appearance was shown._

_My hair was black. _

_I had dyed it? No, I don't recall doing so._

_My eyes were cyan._

_I had put on coloured contacts? No, I don't remember doing so._

_Nonetheless, the appearance looked familiar to me that I didn't feel an animosity towards it._

_The door slid open. _

_I turned my head. _

_My believed-to-be cyan eyes met the amber eyes of the boy with orange-hair. He was holding a glass of water in his hand. _

_There was a certain familiarity with that face._

_'I've brought water for you.'_

_He handed out the glass of water to me._

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE: PRELUDE**

A boy in a senior high school uniform stood by the wall of a dark alley. His uniform was typical. It was black with a typical standing collar normal in most schools in Japan.

His short black hair was typical of the strict discipline at his school.

A slingbag was hanging from his shoulder. He had a tall frame. And that was in contrast to the group who was around him.

The people surrounding were girls from his school.

Not only were they girls from his school, they were wearing in a style contrary to his own dress sense.

Their skirts were long and they did not bother to tie up their hair in a ponytail.

One of the girls, the tallest one, held out to him a cigarette in her hand.

'I repeat one more time,' she warned in a stern voice. 'Will you or will you not?'

'Sorry Aneki,' he responded with an extremely polite tone and crept back against the wall. 'I don't smoke.'

He produced a harmless smile on his face.

The girl replaced the cigarette into her mouth before puffing out a smoke at him. In the next second, she spat onto the floor, taking him by surprise.

It was obvious that the boy was a clean-freak.

The girl laughed out loud, clutching her stomach.

She threw the cigarette down before squashing it with her foot.

The leader girl took one step forward him, only to be complemented with him trying to move away.

She quickly made a hand gesture to her fellow girls. The girls nodded and began to grab him by the hands.

'W-What are you trying to do??' He questioned in a timid tone.

She took the same step again towards him, and stared at his grey eyes.

'For someone who's pretty good-looking,' she smirked. 'Your behaviour is totally different to your appearance.'

She took out another cigarette from the box in her skirt pocket and lit it up.

'You could make some good money if you put your looks to use.'

'W-Wait,' he interrupted.

'Do it, girls.'

The girls nodded, attempting to take off his black outer coat. He tried to fight back but he was restrained by another girl.

The leader whipped out her handphone from her pocket, flipping it open to position it for taking photo.

There was a white flash as the girls succeeded in removing his black coat, rendering him wearing his white top.

It was the perfect humiliation for him.

Another flash followed as they continued to force off his uniform. Halfway through, the reckless actions of the girls caused his shirt to be slightly ripped.

The leader smiled as she took another photo of him.

'Perfect.'

He was soon reduced to only his boxers within minutes. The girls had completed their tasks and return to the leader's side with his uniform.

The leader girl walked up to him where he was covering his own face in shame. He was cowering down, in total shame.

'How's that instead of not trying my cigarette, eh?' She sneered back at him.

He did not reply.

'Reply me, DAMN IT!' She caught hold of his neck, forcing him to look at her face. His grey eyes were wet and almost into tears.

She gave a sinister smile, before using her handphone to take photo of his face.

As soon as she let go of her grip, the boy suddenly kowtowed to her.

'Please!!' He cried out in desperation. 'Don't do this!!'

'The first time I hear a guy being in despair,' she muttered to herself. 'Shameless.'

She kicked off his hands as they tried to grab hold of her ankle.

She turned around, showing him the pictures displayed on her handphone. The pictures were totally outrageous. They contained the whole process of the boy being totally de-clothed by her gang of girls.

'With a lean body like that,' she replied with glee. 'You can become famous overnight if this is put on the Net.'

'Please! I'll do anything!'

She got up and kicked off his persistent hands trying to grab hold of her ankles.

'He said please, didn't he?'

There was a sudden voice coming from somewhere.

'Who is it?!'

The leader exclaimed, looking around but there was no one.

'If he said please, you should let him have his way,' the voice suddenly emerged from behind, causing her to have a shock.

The owner of the voice revealed herself. It was a woman with golden hair, wearing a tunic-like dress which was white.

'W-Who exactly the heck are you?!'

'Just a nobody,' the lady folded her arms. 'I don't see the need to identify myself.'

'Are you from the other turfs?'

'I'm not as low as you bunch of gangster girls,' the lady responded sarcastically.

'You!' The leader was about to give the lady a punch when her movement stopped midway.

Her eyes widened. She wanted to assault the lady but she had no idea why she had stopped.

She could hear footsteps coming out of the shadows. As the figure emerge, it was wearing a hood over its head followed by a cloak for its body.

'Master.'

The lady walked towards the cloaked figure, kneeling with one leg before her.

'This is unfortunate,' the figure replied, revealing to be a female voice. 'To think that Japan still has such problems after so many years.'

'You were just gone for too long,' the blonde lady responded, turning back to face the group of girls. They were trembling at the sight of seeing their own leader being frozen midway.

The cloaked figure lifted up her head, allowing more light to shine into the cloak.

A bright red light that seemed to be her eye could be seen.

More than a normal light, it was the light of a monster.

'Scram.'

She muttered a few words before the leader could move again, falling onto the ground from her previous position.

The gang of girls threw off the boy's uniform on the concrete ground before running away.

The blonde lady took up the uniform and walked over to the boy who had been scared off by what had happened.

The cloaked girl took a step towards him with him stepping backwards again.

'Don't come near!'

His tone was filled with much fright. The golden-haired lady took the clothing and draped it over his naked torso.

'Don't get into trouble again,' the cloaked figure spoke suddenly. 'It's not everytime that you're lucky.'

And she slowly walked into the darkness. The lady followed her, melting back into the darkness soon.

The boy looked at his palms for a moment. He could only ponder why these people had suddenly saved him. All he knew was that his mind was a in a whirl.

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On the futon, Shirasaki slowly opened her eyelids to find that it was already morning. She got up from it, involuntarily taking her glasses to put them on for the sake of seeing clearly.

The past few weeks had been strangely calm for her.

The rumours of Tenraku temple had stopped and there was no evil aura around Setagaya town since.

As expected, that man who was killed by the blonde-haired lady was the primary cause for the strange number of killings back then.

Nevertheless, if there was no abnormalities around, it would be good. But her so-called servant Archer was still around, assisting her in the upkeeping of the apartment.

For some crazy reason, he liked housekeeping.

Something struck her, causing her to take her handphone. The holographic screen opened up by itself, welcoming her as she turned it on.

She quickly scanned through what was her online bank account, and closed back her phone giving a sigh.

With Archer who did not really need to eat or drink, she could save more. But her bank account was dwindling on the contrary.

Her part-time job was not paying that well too.

There was something strange of why her money was decreasing.

It had to be something to do with what Archer was buying, as she thought to herself.

Quickly getting up, she opened the door to her room, seeing the white-haired servant sitting down with his eyes closed.

He was probably at his state of rest, as she thought. He had been resting like that since the time he was summoned so it was probably what Professor Moriyama described as 'standing guard'.

Professor Moriyama had not disturbed her on events of supernatural natures. And to her, that meant that there had been peace for a few weeks.

But to Shirasaki, peace was unstable. There was an eventuality that it would be broken.

The game was not over yet.

As she made her first step into the room, the servant opened his greyish eyes.

'Good morning, Miyuki,' he greeted in a cold, monotonous tone. A week ago, she had told him to drop the formalities and call her by her own name without any suffix attached to it. He had complied with it knowing that she was his master.

'Archer,' she stood before him. 'What did you buy?'

He gave an empty look at the spectacled brown-haired girl in her nightgown.

'You're not telling me you spent away a fifteen thousand yen in a few weeks?'

She pushed the holographic screen of her handphone in front of his face.

He got up from his sitting position without responding to her. Without a single moment of hesitance, he walked over to the refrigerator, its door opening itself ajar as it sensed a being nearby.

The white-haired servant swung opened the door, revealing loads of groceries in it. He took out a few pieces of cutlets wrapped in plastic on a styrofoam white tray.

'These were bought at 5 trays for two thousand yen,' he responded coldly before taking out a few bags of potatoes.

'And these were bought at 3 for eight hundred yen.'

Shirasaki adjusted her spectacles, looking at how plausible the prices of the food could be.

'Then what happened to the rest if the things you bought are that cheap?'

'You friend, Yui, needed eleven thousand yen when I was on my way back.'

The time seemed to stop around Shirasaki. She felt as if the colour in her had all discoloured like what bleach did.

She heard the most possible candidate for borrowing her money.

And Yui had not returned her the money from that day at the family restaurant.

'So you gave her the money without telling me?'

'Servants don't own handphones.'

She gave a slight laugh before increasing the volume of her voice. Archer's eyes were a little bigger than usual but he stayed calm nonetheless.

She raised her head to look at her servant.

'Fifteen thousand yen gone in a few weeks.'

Archer dug into his pocket, showing before her a grey shiny card. It was a cash card that Shirasaki had given him in case he needed to spend anything. And she had authorised the use of fifteen thousand yen in it.

It was a card with zero value in it now.

The handphone vibrated suddenly, causing her to look at it. There was an email.

The sender of the email was spelt Y-U-I.

Before she was about to press the button to open the mail, the doorbell shrilled. The monitor showing the outside of the apartment unit cracked to life, revealing a familiar girl's face.

'Yahoo! Shirasagi!!'

It was the energetic university classmate she had for a friend.

Before she could open the door widely, Yui bolted through the entrance.

'Yui!'

The lively girl stopped in her tracks. Shirasaki turned to look at her friend.

'Did you fleece Archer of some money?'

Yui turned back to look at the man who had seated on the floor, in deep concentration of something. She walked to him, facing his back.

'Didn't we promise not to tell Shirasagi-'

'Don't call me by that!' The spectacled girl exclaimed.

Yui turned around, giving an innocent smile. Her friend knew how unreal that was.

'So where's the eleven thousand yen?'

'Well...' Yui answered, pausing for a moment. She was probably finding some excuse. It was always like this. 'Anyway, I can't return it to you now.'

Shirasaki took out her handphone, opening its calculator function.

'I'll charge you interest then-', she stared in disbelief as her friend snatched away the holographic portable phone.

'Alright, I'll repay you soon,' she presented the phone back to her friend. 'I'll treat you today for once.'

'Your treat?' Shirasaki looked at her again with disbelief. 'With my money, that's supposed to be my treat.'

'It's alright, dear Shirasagi,' she quickly turned the bespectacled girl around, pushing her into the bedroom. 'Let's get you changed up!'

'Hey! Yui! Stop...!'

Before she knew it, she was pushed by Yui into her bedroom, sliding the door halfway. The energetic girl turned around and peeped outside.

The white-haired man was still there, with his eyes closed.

He slowly opened them to look at her.

'Do you have a problem?'

Yui pouted her lips, looking at him.

'Don't peep in. This is girls' talk!' She ordered him back, sliding the door shut.

Archer chuckled softly without letting the two girls hear it.

'Now what's going on?' Shirasaki asked Yui back in the room. 'It's not just because you're going to help me change for sure.'

Yui looked down while contacting the tips of both her index fingers together.

'Well, I have this relative of mine...' she mumbled audibly enough for the other girl to hear it. 'He needed some money.'

'And you lent it to him readily?'

'He had a bad situation so...'

'Like him being publicly humiliated?'

Yui froze for a moment before blinking her eyes. She looked at her friend for another few moments.

'Eh? Was that for real?' Shirasaki cupped her mouth for a moment.

Yui padded her friend on the shoulder, giving a small laugh.

'You do know how to read others,' she complimented. 'It's no wonder you could suddenly succeed in doing Professor Moriyama's crazy assignments.'

'But...who would want to do such a thing to him?'

'That's not the point there,' Yui stepped back a little, looking a little more confident. 'I don't quite trust the fact why he would need that much. So...'

'We're meeting him later?'

'Bingo,' Yui answered back excitedly. 'You can probably sense why bullies would do such things to him when you meet him.'

'After class?'

Yui looked at the watch before lowering her hand.

'Nope,' she responded quickly. 'We're going to skip it.'

'That's wasting my time,' Shirasaki began to slide open the door. 'I'm not going for such pointless things. You've got to solve this on your own.'

She felt a hand pull the fabric behind her.

Turning around, her eyes faced the large screen of a handphone. Yui possessed one of the rarer older handphones without a holographic function.

'It happens that there is only Professor Moriyama's class today,' she replied with a smile. 'And she has approved our absence.' The email displayed on the screen wrote as 'Confirmed'.

Shirasaki's eyes widened behind the lens of her glasses.

'How did that happen?'

'I told her I was going with you to skip the lecture,' Yui answered the queries of the other person. 'Didn't you know you were magical? As long as it's you, I can skip my class as much as I like.'

It came to Shirasaki Miyuki that Professor Moriyama was yet another person with abnormalities in the mind similar to the girl standing before her. It was unexpected of a professor to approve the absence of someone for the reason of just being absent.

She continued her action of opening the sliding door.

'I'm going to take a bath now,' she informed the girl without turning behind to face her. 'You can talk to Archer if you're too bored.'

And she closed the door as soon as she had stepped out of the bedroom.

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At the nearby family restaurant in central Setagaya town, two girls were seated. The white haired servant belonging to Shirasaki had been told to keep watch at home.

It had been one hour since the arranged time but there was no sign of the person they were supposed to meet.

Shirasaki was staring at Yui who was looking outside the glass window.

'Didn't you say it was at ten?' She questioned the girl responsibility for contacting the person. 'It's already eleven.' She showed the holographic screen on her handphone which displayed the clock.

The main entrance of the restaurant swung open.

A somewhat tall person entered, moving to where the two girls were seated at.

Shirasaki looked at the approaching man. He had long hair and was wearing a fashionable shirt with jeans, complemented with a coat similar to that of hosts from Shinjuku.

She could forgive him for having a good dress sense.

As soon as she had thought so, the man zipped past their table, walking to one table where there was a lone woman there.

It was definitely not Yui's relative.

'Your relative is late,' she turned back to see Yui who was looking outside the window. Yui was focused on looking outside, ignoring what her friend had just said.

'Yui-aneki,' she heard a voice of addressing from the opposite side. Shirasaki turned around to see a relative average-looking boy in a senior high school uniform.

'Yui, this is your relative?' She turned back to question her.

A slam hit on the table. It wasn't good when someone stood up Yui for a long time. The girl stood up without opening her eyes.

She turned to open them facing the boy.

Pinching his ear, he tried to coax her to stop doing it.

'You dare to stood me up, eh???' The tone of Yui's voice had changed. It was not the lively version but more of the ferocious one.

'I'm sorry, aneki!' he addressed her in the most polite tone, calling her as his big sister. They were not siblings but he had was accustomed to calling her that way.

'Calm down, Yui,' Shirasaki stood up panickingly, passing her a glass of water on the table. There were two but Yui had half-drank hers. 'We can talk it out~!'

It took a while for Yui to release the grip on the boy before settling down.

As soon as he was seated next to her, the boy bowed to Shirasaki, extending his greetings. Apparently, he went by the name of Tsukamoto Kenshi.

He was of average built but he was apparently someone in the baseball team of his senior high school. His tone was a little soft and shaky too at times, which was not expected of a typically confident baseball player.

Nevertheless, he was a nice person to talk to. But the main aim suddenly struck Shirasaki reminding her of what she was here for.

'I heard you borrowed elevent thousand yen.'

'I'm really sorry, Shirasaki-sempai,' he bowed, pushing his palms against the table surface. 'Please give me some time.'

'Tsukamoto,' she interrupted for a while. 'Eleven thousand is not something that can be easily lended out.'

'How about telling us the reason for this loan?' Yui interjected, folding her arms while staring at the boy. Two senior girls were looking at one junior boy. It was not a good situation.

Kenshi stood up suddenly, startling both girls.

'I'm sorry!' He bowed a little. 'I need to go to the restroom.'

And he rushed off to the restroom.

'Seriously...' Yui cursed softly. 'At such a time.'

'Don't forget the bill is on you,' Shirasaki reminded Yui.

Yui was mumbling about something. When those mumbles reached Shirasaki's ears, it did tell her that something was up to no good.

'I have been a little low on my funds,' she tried to bring herself out of the situation.

That sentence was ignored. The brown-haired girl pressed the button for the bill.

'I'm off to the restroom as well,' she stood up. 'Good luck with the bill.'

As she left, she thought that was the most sarcastic thing she had ever told Yui. Shirasaki hated to be sarcastic but she had to act as one around an inconsistent person like her friend.

Slowly heading towards the restroom, she turned into the corner before she could reach it. The sound of the bustling family restaurant faded away as she moved further away from it.

Entering the restroom, she moved her hands onto the tap sensor allowing the water to flow out. Shirasaki took off her spectacles and splashed the water onto her face. She could relax for a while before she went back to see how Yui handled the bill.

Outside she could hear the faint sound of the door of the gents opening. In a moment, it closed behind, followed by the footsteps of someone walking away. It must have been that student Tsukamoto who had probably went to hide away in the loo for a while.

But no, it seemed that he was not headed for the restaurant.

He was headed for the back door.

That boy was really cunning, as Shirasaki thought. She moved towards the door, opening it only to find that the boy had left through the backdoor.

Twisting the knob of the backdoor, she opened it slightly, feeling the cold air outside enter the room.

As she peeked outside, she could see Kenshi standing there alone. He was at the other corner, which only showed part of his image.

'So how were the negotiations with your big sister?' A third voice sounded where the boy was at. Shirasaki crept out of the building, walking along the wall quietly. As she got closer to where Kenshi was, the view of a few delinquent-looking girls could be seen. Not only were they delinquents, they were dangerous enough to be so with wooden baseball bats held by them.

The boy kept silent, hanging his head low.

'As expected,' one of the girls with long hair swung her baseball bat, resting her hand on the hilt of it. 'Tsukamoto is pretty useless as usual.'

She grab up her baseball bat, preparing to attack him.

As her baseball bat was about to hit onto him, she felt a resistant force towards her baseball bat. Looking ahead, she saw that the boy was pushing his hand back on the weapon.

'Oh, you do have some resistant spirit in you, don't you?' She sneered, withdrawing back the bat.

'I said I'd find some way to get you the money!' He shouted awkwardly.

Money? As Shirasaki thought about what she had just heard. So that was all it was about. The student known as Tsukamoto needed such a huge sum to hide something.

It was probably time for her to confront him. If she could negotiate out with those girls, he could be free of this loan and could return her the money.

'Tsukamoto,' she called out to him which he turned around his head to see her. 'What's going on?'

'S-Sempai?!' He was surprised to see her. The long-haired girl, probably the leader of the gang of girls, rubbed her nose with one finger before looking away.

Shirasaki neverthless proceeded to stand in front of the boy.

'That money belongs to me,' she warned. 'I'm not going to let it slip away without knowing a reason.'

'It can't be helped,' the leader took out her handphone, revealing the pictures to her.

There were pictures of Kenshi in his underwear in a dark alley.

'He could make a model for some talent agency,' she flipped her handphone close. 'If he provides us with forty thousand yen, we will ignore this.'

'This is utter blackmail!'

'It doesn't matter. We're talking business here, sugar sister.'

'Who are you calling a sugar sister?'

'You're offended, I see,' the girl laughed at Shirasaki. It was not funny yet she was laughing away. 'Fine, four-eyes.'

It was a fact that she was wearing spectacles but that didn't warrant the other girl to call her four eyes.

The delinquent girl was still laughing away when she felt something hit her. As the thing which hit her dropped to the ground, it made a large thud on the hard ground. Looking down, it could be seen as a large stone pebble. It was hard enough but not serious enough to cause bleeding.

'Who the heck was that?!' She screeched, looking around.

There was no way it could be the two people in front of them. They did not even raise a finger.

'It's me, idiot Yanki,' a voice came from behind. From the corner of the wall, a familiar person emerged.

'Nice to see you again, both of you,' Yui smiled back. But as soon as she had smiled at them, she turned her face to look at the group of delinquents.

Her face twisted into a bad frown.

'I can't take it when someone insults others for no reason,' she got down to pick up another pebble, tossing it up and down with her hand. 'It bloody sucks even more when a hole has burnt in my pocket.'

Yui had probably paid the bill earlier. She was cursing despite saying that she would pay for the entire sum.

With another go, she threw the pebble, hitting it onto the forehead of the girl.

'You bitch!' She swung her baseball bat, preparing to lunge at Yui to whack her with it.

The railway tracks next to the family restaurant made a loud clanging sound. A train passed by rapidly, causing the sound of its metal wheels to impact with the rails, making the surroundings noisy.

With a deafening sound, Shirasaki could not foretell what was happening.

All she knew was that a shadow appeared before her very eyes.

As the train was far-off, she blinked her eyes to see what was happening. A man in a black shirt and pants, stood there holding the delinquent girl's baseball bat.

'Archer? What are you doing here?'

'W-what are you?!' The assailant took a few steps back.

He looked at her coldly with his grey eyes.

'Scram.'

'What?! I'm not going to be scared off by the likes of you!'

'Scram.'

He looked down at her like a towering structure.

The delinquent leader took a few more steps back, supported by her gang of girls.

'I'll let you off, Tsukamoto,' she cursed at the boy who was looking down. 'You'll get it from me soon!'

And the gang ran off.

Archer remained in that position, standing like a stone statue.

Kenshi crept against the wall.

'Tsukamoto,' Yui questioned. 'What's wrong with you?'

'I...I...' he stammered for a while, still staring at the figure dressed in black.

Archer turned around to look at him.

'I'll...take my leave now!' Kenshi cried out before running off.

'Wait!' Yui shouted out at him but it was to no avail. He was gone as soon as he had announced his departure. 'Darn that boy.'

'Let's go, Archer,' Shirasaki ordered her servant, ignoring Yui's curses.

'Understood.'

And soon the two of them were leaving Yui too.

'Wait! Why am I the one always left behind??' She soon left to follow them as well.

In one shadowed corner, someone was watching them unknowingly.

A lady in golden hair was observing them. As she smirked, she turned around to dematerialise into a spirit again.

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Night had fallen.

Shirasaki walked to her apartment door along the corridor. She had been called in the afternoon to fill in for the duty slot at her part time job.

Her manager was offering her a higher pay for that slot. No doubt she couldn't resist such an offer.

There was something very silent about the apartment block.

There were two figures standing outside her door.

One of them had white hair which was no doubt Archer.

The other person had a cigarette in its mouth, probably an unexpected visitor.

As the spectacled girl stopped in her tracks, the two figures looked in her direction.

The figure with the cigarette approached her, revealing herself to be the yellow-haired professor.

'Professor?!'

'Evening Shirasaki-san,' she took out the cigarette from her mouth and breathed out the smoke. 'There is an urgent matter here.'

'An urgent matter??'

'Come,' she turned around, inducing Shirasaki to follow her.

As the both of them approached the door, she could see a faint glowing glyph on her front apartment door.

'....'

'You can probably see it, Shirasaki-san,' Professor Moriyama spoke out.

'What is it doing there?'

'Someone placed a seal on the apartment door.'

As the professor touched her hand with the seal, it generated static electricity repelling her back.

'The seal is strong enough,' she explained. 'Since you live in this unit, you may be able to dispel it.'

'What seal can this be? Who would want to seal this place?'

'It's a test,' the professor took off her spectacles for a while.

'A test by other mages,' she continued. 'This is an ancient seal that was previously used by the Tohsaka line of magicians.'

The word Tohsaka seemed to have affected Archer as Shirasaki could sense it. As she turned around to look him, he was still remaining motionless.

She turned back, tensing herself up. She stretched out her hand slowly, approaching the seal. Static electricity emerged from it, dancing with her fingers.

It was no doubt painful. But it did not feel like static electricity. If it was so, she would have withdrawn her hand.

As the spectacled girl touched the seal, it broke into shattered pieces, moving in all directions and disappearing soon after.

'So that was true,' the professor muttered.

'You were testing me out?!' Shirasaki exclaimed at what the professor had just said.

'We don't have time for that now,' she swung open the door, revealing the darkness of the apartment's interior.

There was light at the other side, which it came from the balcony. As Shirasaki ran in, she could see a lone figure in the room.

The lone figure was holding a penchant in its hand. Without turning, it gave a soft chuckle.

'You're late, girl,' the figure replied, revealing itself to be a girl.

'Are you an enemy?'

'I can be one,' she responded, turning her hooded head to Shirasaki. 'I may be your ally as well.'

The figure turned to the balcony.

'I'll take back this important artifact,' the person replied.

'Wait! Who are you?'

'You'll know in time to come,' the figure responded. And she ran towards the balcony, jumping off it.

At the moment the figure had disappeared, the light was turned on.

Archer walked into the room, still as calm as ever.

Shirasaki turned behind to look at her servant.

'Why were you locked out?' She demanded a reply.

Her servant remained silent. As it seemed to her, he was defiant for now.

'I'm going to take a bath,' she stomped to her bedroom to get her bath towel. It was weird. Of all things, this was the craziest of all. And now, even though she had a so-called servant, he had failed to keep her house safe.

The strangest thing was that the apartment was kept neat and tidy though that figure had intruded. It appeared that this figure knew exactly where the penchant was kept.

That penchant she had saw was received from Professor Yaguchi, an enigmatic person who had supported her financially since she entered middle school.

Rubbing her head for a while, Shirasaki gathered her bathing equipment and expelled all weird thoughts from her mind.

As she closed the door behind her, Professor Moriyama stared at Archer who was looking at the piece of shikigami he had picked up after the battle with the same cloaked figure.

'Ryuudou-ji temple,' she read the words written on the shikigami.

'So you knew what was going to happen,' Archer replied to her, folding the shikigami and placing back into his pocket.

'That should be my line,' she folded her arms. 'You were rendered totally helpless when that figure invaded.'

'That figure has a mage circuit signature too familiar.'

'I see.'

Archer looked up to see the yellow-haired professor who was dressed in a large overcoat.

'That figure had a mage circuit similar to Shirasaki?' The professor questioned.

Archer closed his eyes, smirking.

'You're observant, Moriyama,' he replied to her non-politely.

'It's not being observant, Archer,' she retorted back. 'Your master has yet to realise it yet.'

'There is a seal preventing us from gaining the full potential.'

'That's right,' the professor answered. She took out another cigarette. 'And very soon, the seal on this giant garden will be lifted along with it.'

She lit the cigarette.

'Neverthless,' she puffed it out. 'You'll eventually have to remove your seal to allow you to function better.'

She turned towards the entrance.

'Tell your master that I'm leaving,' she ordered. 'It's time we started to train her up for the beginning of the worse to come.'

'Understood.'

Professor Moriyama smiled without turning to face Archer and closed the door behind her.

Archer thought about the words he had seen on the shikigami.

'Ryuudou-ji temple,' he mumbled. It was a familiar name he could remember as the weeks went by. The fragments of his memories were piecing themselves together.

Friend or foe, he knew he had to face them soon.

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At another part of Tokyo, there was a huge crimson splatter on the wall of an alley.

A dark creature with red eyes was licking its tongue off the crimson stains of the wall. As it finished its meal, which was provided by an innocent victim, it turned around to look at two people in the distance.

'My my,' the shorter figure shook her head. 'An undead creature is on the loose again.'

She clapped her hands in sarcasm, approaching the dark figure.

As the dark figure looked continuously at the undaunted girl, it growled and began to transform into a human shape.

'You're more powerful now I guess,' the girl responded. 'Since you've drank the blood of one with spiritual power.'

She pointed to the deceased victim, who was a monk.

The figure stretched out its hand, shaping it into a lance. As it hit the hard ground, it created a dent in it but the girl had jumped off.

In a flash, the other figure behind, swiped through the shadow's lance, cutting part of it off.

The weapon the other figure had used was a shiny thin silver sword.

The girl drew out a knife from her skirt.

'Now, would you rather die by the servant's hand?' She taunted.

One of her eyes glowed amber.

'Or would you put in a little more effort and die in honour by my own hands?'

The dark figure took a step back, its eyes glowing red. It was going to be a scene of bloodshed in this small narrow alley.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	7. Night of an Illusion

_...is nothing id, nothing cosmos._

_A feeling of emptiness._

_A feeling that fills one who is not needed._

_No past. No present. And neither is there a future._

_Until the day one is needed._

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX: Night of an Illusion**

'You're one relaxed individual, aren't you?'

The voice of a man whose face could not been seen in such a darkness filled the still air. He was in a ruined church where the smell of rotting wood was prevalent. Part of its roof had collapsed, allowing one to see the night sky from that resultant hole.

The sky had no stars but it had no clouds either.

The moon was present in full but it was dim.

Nonetheless, it felt like a dimly-lit world but the man did not mind that.

He was expecting someone. And that someone was already approaching him from behind.

Though this hooded person appeared to be walking, there was no sound of any footsteps. His visitor halted a few metres behind.

'It's not my style to rush.'

'I see.' He turned behind to face his visitor who was a female. 'Have you did what I've told you to?'

'I have done as according to your orders,' she replied in an arrogant manner.

'That's good,' he approached a broken pew, sliding his hand across the splintered edge carefully. 'It must be hard for you. Especially in that state. You won't last if you are going to continue like this.'

'I have my own way of handling it.'

'That's a good thing to hear,' he turned his back around. 'But I can tell that your constitution is weakening again.'

He dug into his pocket and threw her a sapphire gemstone.

'The drugs needed to keep you going,' he spoke. 'My servant got it specially prepared.'

Before he could continue his words further, he felt the sapphire gemstone being thrown back at him.

'I won't need those anyway, but thank you for your concern.'

She took out a red ruby stone that had been decorated into a penchant.

'This is enough to keep me going until I recover,' she responded. And soon she kept the red penchant away.

'You're not as weak as you seem,' he sneered back.

A third figure emerged from the darkness. He was tall, about a head taller than the man before him.

'I see that you are fast,' he handed the sapphire stone to the tall figure. Without saying anything, the figure took the artifact in his hands. And soon he retreated back into the darkness.

'That's an ideal servant,' the man turned to the other person. 'Without uttering a word of objection, he'll do anything you wish for.'

'I wouldn't want such a servant,' a chuckle could be heard from inside the hood. She turned towards what used to be the church's exit.

'A servant originating from an alternate reality most different from ours,' he folded his arms. 'That is a servant most ideal.'

'That is a dumb comment,' she responded. 'That kind of servant is a counter-guardian pulled out of any alternate-reality or timeline by Akasha. The cheapest way to become a familiar'

And she left the church, leaving the man alone.

'A counter-guardian, eh?'

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The shadow, with its glowing red eyes, charged at the girl with its regenerated lance. The taller figure blocked his attack, slicing through the lance again.

'You'll not pollute my master with your dirty hands,' he warned.

The shadow jumped backwards, holding the severed lance. Within a few seconds, the lance began to grow again, regenerating itself.

There was a swift cut of the air before the entire lance, composed of the shadowy figure's arm, shattered into pieces.

The shadow looked up, noticing how bright the single amber iris of the girl's eye glowed. In her hand was a single dagger, its shape closer to that of a knife.

The figure next to her, the servant, pointed his sword to the shadow.

'Master,' he spoke. 'Your orders.'

She folded her arms and reopened her eyes.

'Stand back,' she responded. 'I'll handle this creature myself.'

She walked forward, approaching the shadow which was in the shape of a human. Its lance had regenerated again.

'Give back everything you've stolen.'

The girl cut through the point at the shadow's leg, effectively shattering it into pieces and causing it to fall onto the ground.

'It's no use,' she continued, taking step after step towards her opponent. 'The more you use it to sustain yourself, the useless your goal would have been.'

The shadow turned its head, noticing the deceased corpse of its victim lying on the floor. The blood flowing from it was slowly drying up but its stench continued to fill the air around.

The broken leg began to regenerate but it stopped halfway soon after.

'I see that you've used up that power,' she spoke in a cold, calm tone. 'It's a dead end for you now.'

She was raising her dagger up into the air when the shadow jumped to the body of the victim and hurling it against the girl.

Skillfully, she dodged it. Without her knowing it, the shadow charged at her at once only to be blocked again.

Her servant was blocking the attack with his large sword. With a yell, he pushed back the shadow with his weapon, hurling it backwards. The shadow hit against a wall but without creating a dent on it.

The shadow got up from the ground it had fallen to after being impacted against the wall. The servant stood before his master, guarding her from any imminent strike from the opponent.

In a sudden, the servant felt a certain presence appear immediately. The attack was swift, racing towards his master.

It was too hard to gauge how fast it was but the girl was quick enough to destroy the attacks which stopped short a few centimetres before her face. Cutting through the points, she managed to destroy the projectile weapons that were about to impale her if she was too slow.

'Assassin,' she addressed her servant. 'You know what you have to do.'

'Understood.'

The shadow began charging at the servant called Assassin by his master. He raised his sword, beginning to launch a quick decisive blow on the red-eyed shadow figure.

The master felt hurls of more waves of projectiles in her direction. With a swing of the dagger in her hand, she managed to destroy many of them. A single projectile shot past her face, creating an instant incision on her skin. Blood began to trickle from the broken skin.

In the direction where she had seen the attacks coming from, there was a glowing ruby-coloured on a fuzzy dark figure.

She produced a smile true from her heart.

'It's you again.'

The figure walked slowly towards her relaxingly. The girl lowered her dagger, standing still. Her single eye still glowed the colour amber.

At the nearest lamplight which produced an orange shade on the ground, the figure appeared before her. From the height, the person was definitely a man who was about two to three heads taller than her.

There was a significant distance between the both of them.

She raised her dagger again, pointing at the person who was definitely related to that shadow figure and a foe as well.

'What is your purpose here?'

The man stared at her. One of his eyes was covered by a large black patch that fitted the rest of his body. The other eye had a red iris the colour of blood. His hair was the colour of light grey, which contrasted totally with the entire black suit he was wearing.

Nevertheless, he did not reply the person before him.

It was as if the both of them had been shut off from the rest of the world with only them staring at each other.

The man began to walk again, passing her without caring whether she was pointing her weapon at him. She turned behind, only to see him heading to where the original shadow figure was.

'If that monster is your ally, I'm your opponent here!' She shouted to him. In an instant, she attempted to cut the air in the direction of a lamp-post in the distance, causing it to topple. But to no avail, the lamppost fell through the figure as though he was transparent.

He turned his head behind enough for him to see her.

'I don't need much interference, little girl.'

And he continued to walk towards the direction of the shadow.

Assassin sliced through the shadow's neck, effecting severing its head from the body. Simply like air, the action was swift. In a flash, the head rejoined with the body. It was an endless battle.

The shadow figure reformed both its arms into sharp lances.

In the next moment, it seared through the air, aiming for the servant's body.

The same presence appeared behind Assassin. He could feel the piercing glare of the person behind him. It was staring not at him, but at the shadow figure. His opponent stopped halfway.

'Dispel.'

As soon as those words were spoken from the person behind, the shadow began to disperse like smoke, slowly disappearing into the atmosphere. In between the smoke, various spheres of light began to float towards the servant. He turned behind as these spheres went past him.

The man in a black suit was holding out his hand palm-wide, in which the several bright spheres rested on it and melted into the surface.

As soon as the last sphere had sunk in, he closed his hand into a fist.

'That was a useless effort to fight a tool,' he spoke behind the cover over his mouth. With a muffled voice, it was obvious that this man did not want to reveal his true identity.

Assassin brandished his sword before the mysterious man. His opponent was indeed tall but only by a few inches. Their vision were of about the same level.

'Who are you?'

The servant's question was not answered. The grey-haired man turned around to see the girl standing before him.

'You have no right to steal those.'

She raised her dagger at him.

The man shook his head a little, folding his arms.

'These are my master's orders,' he answered casually. Digging into his pocket, he swiped out two projectiles in his hand. 'Anyone interfering with my job will be eliminated.;

The girl looked at her new opponent. She took a step forward.

'The only way to get them back is to eliminate you then,' she reopened her eyes. 'Assassin.'

'Understood,' he responded, rushing towards the man with his sword. In response, two of the projectiles came flying his way.

Assassin was about to block the two projectiles when two bright flashes appeared before his eyes. The projectiles were instantaneously shot down by two arrow-like projectiles, falling to the floor.

As the flashes faded as soon as they had hit the floor, they revealed themselves to be simple wooden arrows.

Looking up, there was a single figure standing at the rooftop with a simple bow in its hands. As the figure took another arrow handing from its waist, it began to glow white similar to the attacks just before.

The archer was dressed in a simple Japanese priest dress. He moved his bow to point it at the central figure who was the dubious man in a black suit.

The man gave a slight chuckle before looking at the girl.

'It's not fair to have that many against one.'

He took out a spherical object quickly, and hit onto the ground, causing it to emit smoke immediately. It was no ordinary smoke.

The girl fell to the ground. There was a paralysing effect not on her physical body, but that of her magic circuits. The amber glow in her eye faded, reverting to its normal colour.

Before long, the smoke had dispersed. She got herself up, only to be supported by Assassin.

'Master, are you alright?'

'Go after that man,' she replied in a weak tone.

'I'll go after him,' the third voice belonging to the archer sounded out to them. He landed down lightly on the ground before them.

'Who are you?' She questioned, gaining her own footing independent of her servant's help.

'It's not the time to ask me that,' the priest archer answered. 'A servant's duty is to protect the master first and foremost.'

And he quickly ran past them, disappearing into the darkness.

'Assassin,' she ordered. 'Follow the trail of the foe.'

'Understood, master,' he obliged before dematerialising. The master could only clench her fist at her failure.

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The crescent moon was illuminating the night sky but a bunch of clouds had been blocking it, causing the sky to have a dim effect.

Two people were walking along a fairly quiet road in the suburbs of Tokyo. One of them was wearing her signature spectacles, compared with brown eyes and the other had short white hair obviously.

Shirasaki was using her best ability to try searching for her destination. At such an hour, Professor Moriyama had insisted on her coming to her home with her servant. The only sole reason was just to gauge the amount of magic circuits she had, as written on a note who was sent via Yui. And it still occurred to the spectacled girl on how Yui was always the medium of communication between her and the enigmatic professor.

'Miyuki,' Archer asked after a long silence while walking. 'Do you really know the way?'

His master scratched her head, looking at the information she had saved in her hand phone. Her sense of direction was not working well. Archer had offered to carry her and bring her over to the Professor's home directly but she had declined, insisting by going on foot on the pretext of behaving normal.

As of current, Archer was nothing more than a servant acting as a bodyguard. Up to now there were no strange encounters or any trouble since the encounter with the female delinquent group.

'I'm sure it was supposed to be here...' She muttered to herself, staring at the small shabby house before her.

It was definitely not the Professor's home. For such an abode with lifeless and broken-down features, it was definitely not a place someone could live in in this era.

'Archer,' she questioned without turning behind to face him. 'What can you tell about this place?'

'There's a barrier.'

Whatever it seemed to Shirasaki, she could not tell there was a barrier. But according to the various fantasy novels she had read in the past, this scenario had a high probability that there was always a barrier involved.

She took a deep breath and took a step towards the house. A few centimetres short of the main gate which was rusted, she stopped in her tracks.

She turned around to face her servant.

'Archer, what happens if one touches this barrier?'

'I won't advise you to touch it as it is,' he folded his arms. 'It may disable your magic circuits upon contact.'

'Then what happens if a servant touches it?'

'A servant will be drained of mana,' he approached his master. 'Which in turn he would drain more mana from his source, the master.'

She looked back at the gate before her. It looked rusty and harmless. The colour of it was probably originally black as according to the fragments of paint still lingering on the surface of it.

It was unbelievable how the Professor could return to such a place. The people staying nearby would find it weird too. In short, it was totally unimaginable on why the Professor would put a so-called barrier around her home. The entire thing seemed nonsensical to Shirasaki.

'In short,' she spoke. 'If a master with probably no magic circuits touches that barrier, nothing will happen.'

Without waiting for Archer's response, her hand began to reach for the rusted surface of the gate in order to push it.

'That's ridiculous.'

A voice sounded from behind, stopping her from what she was about to do. That voice sounded familiar.

Immediately she turned her head behind to see who had just made a sudden entrance into the scene.

'Even as a master with unactivated magic circuits,' the boy with the woollen vest adjusted his squarish glasses. 'The barrier will fry you.'

It was unexpected but the boy she had seen at university was just before her eyes.

'What are you doing here?'

A sudden bright flash caused Shirasaki to close her eyes for a moment. Reopening them, she had saw that Archer had transformed from his normal outfit to the familiar one with the red coat. He had his longbow in his hand, along with the same flashing arrow.

'Are you a friend or foe?' The white-haired servant questioned hostilely.

The boy put his hands on his hips, laughing for a moment. His gaze turned to look at the female master.

'I see you have a very loyal servant, don't you?' He complimented sarcastically. 'As expected of the Archer class.'

'Lower your bow,' she commanded to Archer who was preparing to strike any moment.

'Now wouldn't that be a stupid command, Shirasaki?'

'You knew my name?'

'Is that an offence not to know?' He gave a sinister smile. 'I don't recall it being an infringement of any laws.'

She had no time to hear this person talk about anything like law.

He turned his look to Archer now.

'Aren't you going to shoot?' He folded his arms, behaving as if he would be protected from the attack. 'Go ahead.'

'Miyuki, your orders,' he pulled the flashing projectile further backwards, ready to hit his opponent.

'Archer, lower your weapon,' she ordered again.

The boy opened his eyes, raising up his arm. A green glyph in the shape of a yin-yang symbol formed before his palm like a hologram.

Quickly he smashed his palm against the road, causing a huge dent on it.

'I summon thee,' he cried out causing fissures glowing green to branch out from the impact like the roots of a tree. 'Seiryuu!'

The road broken open to reveal an animal's claw grabbing onto the surface. As the creature got up, it revealed itself to be a translucent dragon.

'This is what your servant will fight with if we had a normal battle,' he spoke calmly to Shirasaki who was taking a few steps back from the large dragon. It was not exactly gigantic but it was the size of an elephant. 'But it would be unfair since Shirasaki-san has not activated her magic circuits.'

'Why did you summon it then?' She looked at him suspiciously.

'Archer's attacks will have no effect on the barrier,' he looked at the direction of the house, and touched the translucent texture of the dragon. 'You'll need an attack higher than that barrier to dispel it temporarily.'

'Temporarily?'

'When Seiryuu has penetrated the barrier, you have 20 seconds to rush through it,' he briefed the master before him. 'That barrier is still too strong for an attack from a semi-divine creature.'

'But...'

'Miyuki,' Archer dematerialised his longbow. 'He is right. The barrier is too strong.'

'You didn't tell me that before,' she stared at her servant. He was definitely keeping a lot of important information to himself. It was highly suspicious whether he was her true servant or not.

'I won't waste any time,' the boy responded. 'Seiryuu.'

The dragon-like apparition leapt into the sky and dropped down towards the house like a comet. As it was about to impact, it hit what seemed to be the barrier of the house. Within seconds the barrier dissipated.

'Good luck on meeting the Professor,' he folded his arms, turning around to leave. 'Send my regards to her.'

'Wait,' Shirasaki stopped him with her words. 'What's your name? Since you already know my name.'

'You don't have time to hear it,' he replied.

'Promise me you'll tell me the next time we meet.'

'If there's a next time, Shirasaki-san,' he began to walk away. Soon he had seemingly vanished into the surroundings.

'There's no time,' Archer warned his master.

The barrier began to reform itself from the top. It was slowly creeping down. Knowing there was no time, Archer grabbed Shirasaki by the hand. She was still standing there, looking at how the mysterious boy had vanished into the surroundings.

Entering the house before the barrier touched down on the ground again, the two stopped in their tracks. The interior of the house did not fit the exterior it had. Instead of the expected shabbiness of the interior, a red-carpeted stairway greeted them.

Shirasaki opened her eyes wider, looking around on how it could be an illusion. No doubt, the house was real. It was more of an illusion how neo-Victorian the interior looked.

A sudden bright beam shot out from one side of the room, assailing the both of them. Before it could hit them, Archer shot out an arrow to counter the beam.

The arrow moved against the direction of the beam, splitting it in half before hitting its source to create an explosion.

There was bouts of claps soon after coming from the top of the stairway. The sound of footsteps coming down was getting louder by the second.

'Well-done, Shirasaki-san,' the same old professor walked down the staircase, clapping her hands. 'You passed the first test along with your servant. That was some good teamwork.'

'Why did you get me to come here?'

'There's a very simple reason for that,' the yellow-haired woman explained. 'Well, shall we have a drink to replenish your energy first?'

Shirasaki looked at the strange professor whom she had to meet through such strange ordeals.

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'Thank you, Professor Moriyama,' she thanked the woman before her who had laid down the cup of tea. Shirasaki noticed something was amiss. Turning her head, she could see Archer standing by the couch she was sitting on.

'Archer, you're not going to criticise?'

'I don't criticise something everytime I see it.'

'My my,' the professor chuckled. 'You do have one cold servant.'

'I didn't choose to get him,' the spectacled girl sighed and brought the cup to her lips. 'In fact, I don't even know how he was summoned in the first place.'

'That is simple to understand,' the professor replied, smiling. 'Did you find anything strange after the day Archer was summoned?'

As Shirasaki began to recall, she had found a penchant in her apartment on the day after Archer had been summoned. As she worked through her memory, it was the same penchant that the cloaked figure had stolen it the other day.

'There was a penchant,' she spoke after a short moment of silence of thinking through her memory. 'But it was stolen.'

'Archer,' the professor turned her look towards the crimson servant. 'You do have a penchant with you too.'

'Archer? What does his items have to do wi-'

She froze looking at the penchant which Archer had taken out from within his red cloak. It was not exactly the same as Archer was holding in his hand but it was similar. The design had an uncanny resemblance.

'Is that the penchant you've lost, Shirasaki-san?'

'It...looks the same,' she answered truthfully. 'But...'

'It's not the same penchant,' Archer kept his item back into his clothing. 'This penchant is void of prana and has no purpose.'

'Prana?'

'It's the source of magic in this world,' the professor explained. 'The penchant stolen from you was probably full of prana which managed to summon up Archer.'

'But that should be impossible,' Shirasaki rebutted. 'I didn't know of any way which I could...'

'You must have summoned him up subconsciously,' she concluded. It was definitely impossible for Shirasaki. Archer had been summoned during the time she was out with Yui at a ramen restaurant. There was surely no memory lapses during then.

The professor looked at the brown-haired girl who was deep in thought.

'We'll leave the matter of how you managed to summon Archer aside. As for now, it's a fact that you're a master now. You'll need to learn some sorcery for self-defence.'

'Sorcery?'

'You would have to activate your magic circuits,' the professor got up from her seat. 'In order to acquire them.'

'But how would I be able to activate them?'

'Well, firstly,' she cleared her throat for a moment. 'We'll need to use the od force within your body.'

'The od forces?'

'That is your life force,' she explained further. 'The raw magical force circulating within your body. And in order to allow these od to flow through your magic circuits, you'll need a form of trigger.'

Professor Moriyama's mouth twisted into a slight smile.

'Of course, the easiest would be,' she paused for a minute, looking at the both of them. 'A physical union.'

Shirasaki froze at what the professor had just spoken. A physical union was seemingly like an euphemism for something that sounded more vulgar.

'As expected,' the professor chuckled again at the reaction of her student. 'You must be a virgin from hearing those words.'

The spectacled girl was speechless. She turned to look at Archer who was still in a calm composure. With only two females and one male, it was quite obvious to her that the so-called physical union involved her servant.

'A physical union can no doubt allow the opening of your magic circuits, but it doesn't mean that's the only way to do it.'

Shirasaki turned back to face her professor.

'Why should I learn to use sorcery in the first place?'

'Do you intend to depend on your servant all the time then?' She interrupted. 'A master can depend almost on the servant but there is a need for some personal self-defence.'

Shirasaki remained speechless. Indeed, she had been depending on her servant for most of the time, or even all the time. Archer had saved her from various perilous situations since he was summoned. The professor was right. She could not depend on the servant all the time.

'For you being a master, it is still strange how there have been a low frequency of attacks on you,' the professor continued. 'But there is someone out there who would definitely seek to kill you and remove you from this distorted Holy Grail competition.'

Shirasaki froze at the word 'kill'.

'If they do know about your weak nature, the only barrier from getting to you would be Archer.'

The professor had a solemn expression on her face.

'Did you read the book I had passed you before?'

She could not tell a lie. The girl shook her head.

'I expected you to not believe in it yet,' the professor responded. 'Have you ever considered why would I send you that book?'

'That's because you had said that Tohsaka Rin used to have an archer-class servant.'

'That's right, and if you have read the book, there was only one single spell.'

'The seal on my door?'

'That was a spell used by the Tohsaka line, according to you.'

'That was an ancient seal used by the Tohsaka line of magi,' the professor's tone took a stern form. 'It was a seal that not even the last of the Tohsaka family had ever used. Only someone who had read the entire book I passed you would know of that spell.'

'Wouldn't someone of Tohsaka descent learn the entire book?'

'It is not possible to learn every spell in that book, and some are obsolete in this era since it can be achieved through modern science.'

Shirasaki blinked for a second.

'Professor,' she stopped the woman before her. 'What does the book have to do with anything?'

The entire conversation had seemingly gone off-topic.

'Since you were able to summon Archer,' the professor sat down on her armchair. 'And you were able to break that ancient Tohsaka seal, the od force within you must have an element that reacted with the nature of the magecraft used by the Tohsaka family.'

'That would mean...'

'I can't conclude anything now, Shirasaki-san,' she interjected. 'Only time would probably tell. The main point is to get you to activate your magic circuits.'

And the professor snapped her fingers. In a flash, the surroundings around them broke as if it was stained glass. In its place, they were in a hall large enough to hear small echoes. It simply did not make sense to Shirasaki.

'Sorry about the illusion,' the professor explained herself. 'But I need my guests to have a good impression of my home.'

'That was expected.'

Archer spoke after a long while of silence. He opened his grey eyes to look at the professor.

'I'm sure this was not achieved by you alone, Moriyama,' he continued. 'There is someone here too.'

'Thank you for your comment, Archer,' she folded her arms, looking at the servant in red. 'Unfortunately my familiar is not willing to see you.'

'But,' she inserted a pause. 'It seems that you're regaining your true abilities.' She took a large superhuman leap back, landing about ten metres away from the two.

'Servus effrego,' she chanted the foreign words out. Shirasaki could not sense anything happening until she looked at Archer's appearance behind her.

He had turned transparent like a ghost.

'That's a spell to prevent a servant from attacking,' the Professor explained. 'It's only good for this situation since it would neutralise any attacks from a spiritual being.'

She snapped her fingers, causing white specks of bright light to float from the bright wooden floor. Their numbers were uncountable but it did give a bad signal to Shirasaki of what they could do.

'Each piece of this will eat away at your od force,' the emerald-eyed professor spoke. 'When all of your od force is gone, you will die.'

She raised her hand, causing one speck to respond as if she was controlling it. She twisted her body, hurling the white speck at the spectacled girl.

The speck moved at full speed, moving towards her body. Archer moved in front of his master, attempting to block her from the attack.

It was no use as the speck shot through Archer's body without much resistance and pierced through Shirasaki's body.

The girl collapsed on the ground, feeling a searing pain that shot through her entire body. Clutching her hand to the part where the speck had gone through her body, she checked her palm.

Despite the pain, there was no bleeding.

'You can't let too many go through your body either even if it doesn't take away your od force,' the professor prepared another attack by controlling another speck indirectly. 'Too much and your magic circuits would be damaged.'

She hurled another speck which immediately went through Shirasaki's arm causing her to shout in pain at the attack. She had never been shot by a gun but this was probably the same feeling she would have if she had been so.

Similarly, there was no blood, as the brown-haired girl looked at the portion where the speck had gone through it. She was beginning to feel weak. It was as if her stamina had been drained.

The stamina must have been originating from this so-called od force in her body.

'...what do you expect me to then...?' She questioned weakly.

'Use your mind,' the professor shouted to her. Shirasaki could sense another attack coming. It was dumb standing in one position waiting to be shot down. She straightened her legs weakly and began to run across the hall.

'Running is futile for this,' the professor threw another speck of white light at her running opponent.

Immediately, the next speck went for Shirasaki's knee, causing her to collapse on the floor. In three afflicted portions, the pain continued to persist no matter how many minutes passed.

'It's only three shots, Shirasaki-san,' the professor shouted to her across the hall. 'When your body takes about five of it, your magic circuits suffer a possibility of being damaged.'

And she hurled a fourth shot of the magic speck towards the spiritually-drained girl. Shirasaki felt a sharp pain at her neck. She could not concentrate anymore. It was too tiring for her to take any more attacks. The fifth one would finish her off.

Perhaps it was good.

If her magic circuits were destroyed, Archer would disappear and she could regain her normal life again. She would have nothing to do with magic ever again.

She could even get out of this craziness that was before her.

She did not understand why she was pulled into this madness known as the Holy Grail phenomenon but it didn't matter to her since she definitely did not have any involvement in it.

It was a road split into two for now. She could just disregard herself from this, or she could fight back.

But what could she fight back with? Archer was disabled and she had no other way of fighting.

The professor grabbed one speck, causing other specks to be attracted to it to form a large sphere of white light. She was probably increasing the intensity of the fifth shot as Shirasaki thought but she could not be bothered.

_You're foolish enough to let yourself be attacked?!_

Shirasaki opened her eyes. She was in a silence. It was as if time had stopped for her.

The pain was gone. She could stand up normally as before. However, the surroundings around her was pitch black.

A figure appeared before her. It was the all familiar cloaked figure who stolen the penchant. Speak of the devil, the figure raised the stolen penchant before her.

_You need this, don't you?_

The figure was directly talking to her in the head.

'Why did you save me?'

_I did not save you. The only person who can save you is yourself. _

'Then who exactly are you?' Shirasaki questioned the figure.

_It doesn't matter who I am or whether I'm a friend or foe. I shall ask once. Don't you need this to fight back?_

'I don't want to have anything to do with magic!' She shouted back at the figure, directly implying her rejection.

The figure kept the penchant back into her covered shape and turned around.

_Do as you wish then, girl._

Shirasaki wanted to grab the figure by the shoulder but it was to no avail as her hand fell through.

The figure soon vanished. However, it was not over yet.

_It's up to you._

The disembodied voice sounded through the darkness.

The sound of the former hall began to fill Shirasaki's ears again. She reopened her eyes to find that the pain had subsided. The professor was holding the same gigantic sphere of white light in her palm.

'Are you ready?' She questioned rhetorically before hurling the large ball of light at the spectacled girl.

Shirasaki closed her eyes, concentrating. That cloaked figure whom she had seen had affected her consciousness. There was something amiss about that mysterious person.

She reopened her eyes, concentrating on the large ball of light which was moving at a comparatively slower speed.

'I reject thee!'

She pushed her palm against the large ball which did not appear to sear through her body like a needle. It was pushing back her fingers, almost to the point of breaking it.

A certain jolt of electricity shot through Shirasaki's body. The electricity were moving towards the hand which was in contact with the sphere. Forces in her body were moving towards the sphere, rejecting it like a virus.

Bit by bit, the sphere began to reduce in size, slowly becoming a mere speck. It continued to reduce in size further until it was no more.

There were redness on Shirasaki's palm as she fell on her knees, looking at what she had just done. The professor moved her hands around like a conductor, slowly raising all the remaining white specks.

'Well-done,' she commended on the girl's actions. With a swift movement of her hand, all of the specks began shooting towards the brown-haired girl. 'The final test to activate your magic circuits!'

Shirasaki got up from the floor again, preparing herself to block the attack.

'I can't give up my magic circuits for now!' She shouted across, revealing her resolution. 'I reject!'

It was too difficult for her to block all specks of the attack. The numerous amount of white light entering her eyes were blinding her. She could not forecast how many she could block unlike the large one previously.

A dark shadow jumped in front of her, blocking her from the attacks. She blinked her eyes for a moment, and stared at the familiar black and red attire the person was wearing.

'Archer?!' She looked at how her servant was blocking with a large transparent-like shield. It was beautiful, for it had the patterns of flower petals. The most strangest thing was that he was no longer transparent, which he should have been weakened by the spell casted previously.

Each white speck light vanished as soon as it came into contact with the summoned shield.

As soon as the attack had dissipated, Archer summoned his black longbow, aiming it at the Professor.

Professor Moriyama clapped her hands slowly and with increasing frequency.

'Well-done, Shirasaki-san,' she stopped her clapping, standing calmly before Archer's longbow. 'Your magic circuits have opened within such a short time. End of practice.'

Archer pulled the arrow back and released it directly shooting it at the professor.

'Archer!' Shirasaki shouted out at what her servant had just done.

The professor turned behind to look at the approaching weapon. She smiled, turning fully to face the bright flashing arrow.

Instantly before her, a large hole with a gaping black interior opened up, absorbing the arrow and closing up again.

'Your servant is agile and quick,' the professor responded. 'As expected of an archer class servant.'

'Your familiar is equally the same, Moriyama,' Archer lowered his black longbow. 'It's a pity he cannot be involved in the Holy Grail war.'

'That's true,' Professor Moriyama lit a cigarette. 'He doesn't fit in the seven categories besides. And even if he did, he would spoil this game.'

Archer gave a smirk before dematerialising into a spirit form.

'It seems that your servant has enough mana to dematerialise into a spirit form,' the professor commented, grinning to the spectacled girl.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

In a large park which had been abandoned and disused by the public, there was the sound of a fight. It was not really a fight, but rather a group of people attacking one person.

From a distance, a person was watching them. She was accompanied with a small girl and a person who was wearing a free flowing dress.

'Hazuki senses someone in danger!' The little one cried out.

'Hazuki-chan,' the person who had hidden her face in a hood. 'Do what you must do.'

'Thank you, onee-chan!' She chirped brightly, moving rapidly.

'Are you sure it's good to let her loose?' The tall woman behind her questioned.

'A trap is always needed before you get your prey,' the hooded person chuckled.

A group of delinquent girls were hitting a boy with their wooden baseball bets. The boy was injured to the extent of having a bloodied white shirt which could seen from within his black overcoat.

The leader, who had the longest hair, stepped her foot on the side of his face.

'Well aren't you sleeping already, eh?' She questioned sarcastically, scratching the sole of her shoe against the face of the boy.

It had appeared that the boy had fainted.

'Onee-san is bullying onii-chan,' a young voice sounded out which caused the girls to look at a young girl in a white dress.

The leader of the girl group, placed the baseball bat on her shoulder, laughing at the kiddish figure before her.

'Hey little brat,' she pulled the collar of the kid's dress by the hand. 'Don't mess with us big girls.'

Hazuki gave a smile. Her single eye turned to a bright amber colour.

'Shall we play, onee-san?'

The little girl pulled out her short knife, seemingly cutting randomly in the air.

It was followed by a scream from within the girl group.

And followed by the strong intense smell of iron in the air.

In the distance, the moonlight illuminated on the hooded figure's chin, which had a grin on it.

The blonde-haired woman behind her shook her head and walked away into the darkness.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
